/ 


MAKERS 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN   REPUBLIC. 


BOOKS  BY  REV.  DAVID  GREGG. 

MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Historical  Studies  of  Colonial  Times  ;  portraying 
pen  pictures  of  the  Virginia  Colonists,  the  Pil- 
grims, the  Hollanders,  the  Puritans,  the  Quakers, 
the  Scotch,  and  the  Huguenots,  with  chapters  on  the 
influence  of  the  Discovery  of  Columbus,  the  Life  and 
Times  of  Washington,  and  the  Christian  Church  as  a 
moral  uplift  in  the  formation  and  development  of  the 
Nation.     405  pages.    Cloth,  -  $1.50. 

OUR  BEST  MOODS. 

Soliloquies  and  Other  Discourses  ;  eloquently  ad- 
dressing the  every  day  hearer,  and  encouraging  him 
to  higher  aspirations. 

14  The  Themes  chosen  are  of  practical  moment  and  in  their  treat- 
ment the  preacher  never  loses  sight  of  his  purpose  to  stimulate 
men  to  realize  the  highest  ideal  of  character  and  life." — Tke  New 
York  Observer. 

362  pages,  Frontispiece  Portrait.     Cloth,        -      $1.25. 

THE  HEAVEN  LIFE; 

Or,  Stimulus  for  Two  Worlds, 

The  whole  idea  of  the  book  is  the  comfort  and 
stimulus  of  those  who  wish  to  live  their  best  in  two 
worlds,  and  a  consolation  to  those  who  are  in  bereave- 
ment. 168  pages.  Cloth,  75  Cents. 
IDEALS  FOR  BOTH  ; 

Or,  Ho  v  to  make  Zife  Beautiful. 

A  Series  of  Addresses  to  Young  People  on  Ideal 
Manhood  and  Ideal  Womanhood,  republished  from  the 
Treasury  Magazine.  A  pastor  writes  :  "  Can  you  do 
a  better  thing  than  to  publish  them  in  a  book.  I  speak 
for  six  copies  in  advance  to  lend  to  young  men  and 
women."     114  pages.    Cloth,         -  50  Cents. 

TESTIMONY  OF  THE  LAND  TO  THE  BOOK; 

Or,  The  Evidential  Value  of  Palestine. 

Chautauqua  Lectures  on  The  Fascination  of  the 
Land  ;  The  Voices  from  Above  Ground  ;  or,  The  Land 
in  its  Physical  Features  and  Argument ;  and  The 
Voices  from  Underground  ;  or,  The  Land  in  the  Light 
of  Modern  Discovery. 

"  This  work  presents  the  arguments  of  the  Bible  derived  from 
topography  and  explorations.  It  is  a  work  up  to  date,  and  is  as 
interesting  as  a  novel.'" — New  York  'tribune. 

Neatly  bound  in  boards,  imitation  leather,  35  Cents. 

E.  B.  TREAT,  Pub.,  5  Cooper  Union.,  N.  I. 


Monument  to  Faith. 

Plymouth,   Mass. 


MAKERS 


OF    THE 


American  Republic 


a  series  of  patriotic  lectures 


BY 


DAVID  GREGG,  D.  D. 

PASTOR   OF    THE   LAFAYETTE   AVENUE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 
BROOKLYN,   N.  Y. 


OK    THK 

UNIVERSITY  ) 


It  still  zvaves" 


NEW  YORK 

E.  B.  TREAT,  s  Cooper  Union 

OFFICE  OF    THE   TREASURY   MAGAZINE 
1806 


£0 


Copyright,  1896,  by 
E.  B.  Treat. 
74^2  %f 


THE    NEW    YORK    TYPE-SETTING    COMPANY. 


PUBLISHER'S    NOTE. 

THIS  series  of  popular  lectures  is  full  of  histori- 
cal data  and  pioneer  incidents  of  colonial  times, 
vividly  portraying  pen-pictures  of  the  Virginia 
colonists,  the  Pilgrims,  the  Hollanders,  the  Puri- 
tans, the  Quakers,  the  Scotch,  and  the  Huguenots, 
with  chapters  on  the  influence  of  the  discoveries 
of  Christopher  Columbus,  and  the  work  of  George 
Washington  as  a  factor  in  American  history,  and 
the  effect  of  the  growth  of  the  Christian  church  in 
the  formation  and  development  of  the  nation. 

The  book  embodies  the  results  of  a  large  his- 
torical research.  It  sets  forth  in  a  vivid  and  at- 
tractive light  the  races,  the  personalities,  the  prin- 
ciples, and  the  occasions  entitled  to  credit  in  the 
construction  of  the  American  Republic.  It  is 
highly  suggestive  of  American  history  yet  to  be 
written.  The  book  pleads  for  the  broadest  and 
purest  type  of  Americanism,  and  is  outspoken  and 
fearless  in  advocating  the  highest  interests  of  our 
nation. 

The  American  citizen  will  find  in  it  enlighten- 
ment and  stimulus  for  his  patriotism. 

5 


6  PUBLISHER'S  NOTE. 

Our  young  people,  as  they  shall  be  taught  in 
the  universities,  public  schools,  and  Chautauqua, 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  other  societies,  will  find  it 
a  veritable  thesaurus  in  their  preparation  to  write 
or  speak  upon  "  Christian  citizenship." 

The  preacher  will  find  abundant  and  helpful 
material  for  his  pulpit  ministrations,  and  learn  how 
an  occasional  patriotic  service  can  be  made  attrac- 
tive to  the  people,  as  well  as  a  power  for  God  and 
country. 

The  statesman  will  here  find  facts  and  data  for 
the  equipment  of  argument  and  illustration,  giving 
strength  to  and  lighting  up  his  patriotic,  historical, 
and  political  addresses. 

All  of  these  historic  lectures  have  been  delivered 
with  great  acceptance  to  audiences  of  thousands, 
and  on  this  account  carry  with  them  a  telling  in- 
dorsement of  their  life  and  power.  This  fact 
should  weigh  with  those  who  wish  to  possess  effec- 
tive patriotic  literature.  It  is  the  teachings  of  such 
patriotic  recitals  that  assure  us  of  a  future  for  our 
Republic.  Their  legitimate  product  will  be  intelli- 
gent Americans,  on  fire  with  a  holy  enthusiasm 
to  make  ultimate  America  the  realization  of  the 
brightest  visions  of  the  great  men  of  the  different 
races  who  lived  and  died  for  the  Republic. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  The  Old  Dominion;  or,  The  Virginia  Colonists     17 
II.  The  Pilgrim  Forefathers 53 

III.  The  Puritan  Founders 75 

IV.  The  Hollanders  in  the  New  Netherlands...   103 
V.  The  Scotch 133 

VI.  The  Huguenots 169 

VII.  The  Quakers  ;  or,  Ideal  Civilization 209 

VIII.  Columbus:  the  Results  of  His  Life 249 

IX.  George  Washington:    a   Factor  in   American 

History 279 

X.  The  Church  and  the  Republic 311 

XI.  America  for  Christ 341 

XII.  The  Honor  Due  to  Our  Patriotic  Dead 371 

7 


I. 


THE  OLD  DOMINION;  OR,  THE  VIRGINIA 
COLONISTS. 


17 


I. 

THE    OLD    DOMINION; 

OR,  THE    VIRGINIA    COLONISTS.* 

A  GREAT  statesman  of  olden  times,  in  speaking 
to  his  countrymen,  gave  them  this  advice :  "  Take 
ye  therefore  good  heed  unto  yourselves;  "  i.e.,  "  Go 
to  school  to  self."  The  advice  is  good  counsel  for 
the  American  Republic.  We  are  to  learn  from 
ourselves  ;  we  are  to  study  our  own  history.  This 
is  not  a  narrow  study  nor  an  uninteresting  study 
nor  an  unprofitable  study.  Our  Republic  has 
made  history  rapidly,  and  it  has  made  it  on  lines 
altogether  different  from  the  other  nations  of  the 
world.  As  a  nation  our  Republic  has  sprung  to 
the  head  of  nations,  and  has  led  them  toward  a 
newer  civilization  and  a  more  abundant  liberty. 

We  have  a  large  history,  for  we  have  grown 
phenomenally.  No  nation  on  the  earth  can  match 
us  for  growth ;   we  have  grown  like  the  wheat  in 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, at  a  Forefathers'-day  service. 

21 


22     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

our  harvest-fields.  Humboldt  informs  us  that  a 
follower  of  Cortez  sowed  the  first  wheat  in  Amer- 
ica. He  found  just  three  kernels  in  his  supply  of 
rice.  They  got  into  the  rice  accidentally.  These 
three  kernels  he  carefully  planted.  The  dividends 
of  this  planting  in  1895  were  millions  on  millions 
of  bushels.  In  the  month  of  May,  1607,  when  the 
first  American  colony  of  Englishmen  was  planted 
at  Jamestown,  Va.,  there  were  only  one  hundred 
and  two  souls ;  now  we  number  sixty-five  millions. 
What  is  crowded  into  the  history  between  then 
and  now?  The  overrule  of  God  ;  the  noble  strug- 
gles and  sacrifices  of  our  civil  fathers  ;  the  planting 
of  everlasting  principles  and  the  growth  of  the 
same  into  magnificent  institutions;  the  play  of  the 
forces  and  events  which  has  made  us  what  we  are 
as  a  body  politic — these  things  are  crowded  into 
our  history,  and  to  know  them  is  to  know  where 
our  strength  lies  and  where  our  duty  lies  and 
where  the  source  of  our  national  perpetuity  lies. 
Do  we  understand  our  own  institutions?  We 
cannot  serve  our  country  intelligently  and  effec- 
tively if  we  do  not.  Our  national  greatness  will 
inevitably  go  down  before  a  wide-spread  national 
ignorance  of  these.  As  the  great  white  dome  of 
our  federal  capitol  at  Washington  rests  upon  a 
circle  of  giant  pillars,  even  so  our  national  great- 
ness rests  upon  the  vast  circle  of  our  civil  institu- 
tions. These  are  the  pillars  of  our  Republic/and 
we  should  so  know  them  as  to  be  able  intelligently 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  23 

to  guard  them.  I  believe  that  there  is  something 
to  be  learned  from  each  individual  fact  pertaining 
to  us  as  a  nation.  For  example,  we  are  territori- 
ally one — solidly  one.  Our  dominion  is  not  frac- 
tional. With  the  exception  of  Alaska,  it  lies  in 
one  undivided  body,  animated  practically  by  one 
blood,  using  one  national  language,  and  living 
under  one  law  enacted  at  one  center.  And  yet 
for  all  this  practically  the  sun  never  sets  on  our 
territory.  On  the  short  summer  night  the  light 
of  the  sunset  does  not  cease  to  gleam  on  the  shin- 
ing spears  of  the  seal-fishermen  of  Alton  off 
Alaska  before  the  sunshine  commences  to  flash 
on  the  glinting  axes  of  the  woodmen  in  the  forests 
of  Maine.  We  differ  from  England  in  this :  we 
are  territorially  one.  The  British  empire  is  scat- 
tered about  the  world  in  no  less  than  forty-one 
different  parcels.  Now  I  believe  that  the  fact  that 
we  are  one  territorially  teaches  us  that  we  should 
be  and  should  ever  remain  one  in  government,  and 
that  every  attempt  to  sever  our  national  union 
should  be  treated  as  treason.  The  very  configu- 
ration of  our  national  territory  declares,  "  The 
Union  one  and  inseparable,  now  and  forever." 

My  fellow-men,  I  believe  that  we  need  just  such 
exercises  as  those  to  which  this  historical  service 
calls  us.  We  need  something  to  incite  us  to  the 
study  of  the  history  of  our  country.  Our  national 
history  is  a  page  from  God's  own  book,  and  is  full 
of  divine  lessons.     We  need  to  know  what  our 


24    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

nation  incarnates ;  we  need  to  know  what  our  in- 
stitutions cost;  we  need  to  know  how  the  builders 
of  our  nation  suffered  and  worked.  Our  institu- 
tions cost  time  and  blood  and  brain.  Our  Re- 
public incarnates  scholarship  and  patriotism  and 
reformations  and  revolutions,  and  the  wise  provi- 
dences of  that  God  who  is  the  eternal  Master 
Builder  of  states.  Are  these  things  so,  then  we 
have  something  in  our  Republic  to  prize,  some- 
thing to  be  proud  of,  something  to  be  loyal  to, 
something  to  perpetuate,  something  to  pray  for, 
and  something  for  which  we  should  send  to  God 
our  whole-hearted  and  enthusiastic  Te  Deum. 

I  am  here  to-night  to  tell  you  one  of  the  stories 
which  pertains  to  the  evolution  of  our  nation. 
There  are  other  stories  pertaining  to  this  evolu- 
tion, such  as  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  story 
of  the  Puritans,  the  story  of  the  Hollanders,  the 
story  of  the  Scotch  and  their  descendants,  and  the 
story  of  the  Huguenots.  To-night  our  story  is  to 
be  the  story  of  "  Old  Dominion,  the  Colony  of 
Virginia." 

This  colony  was  the  oldest  of  all  the  colonies. 
It  was  the  first  colony  of  the  English  on  the  new 
continent.  It  was  unique ;  it  was  different  from 
all  the  others ;  it  was  the  last  colony  from  which 
republicanism  had  a  right  to  expect  anything; 
but  it  turned  out  to  be  the  colony  that  was  fore- 
most in  the  inauguration  of  the  Republic.  With- 
out its  lead  and  cooperation  our  Republic  would 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  25 

never  have  had  an  existence.  Virginia  and  Mas- 
sachusetts, standing  shoulder  to  shoulder,  did  the 
planning  and  the  leading  and  the  fighting  which 
ushered  in  the  American  Revolution.  They 
pushed  the  Revolution  through  to  a  successful 
conclusion,  and  afterward  they  gathered  and  or- 
ganized the  results  of  the  Revolution  so  as  to  make 
them  permanent. 

I  have  said  that  the  Virginia  Colony  was  the 
last  colony  from  which  republicanism  had  a  right 
to  expect  any  aid.  I  base  this  remark  upon  the 
popular  and  ancient  name  which  that  colony  bore 
— "  Old  Dominion." 

Do  you  know  why  it  was  called  "  Old  Domin- 
ion "  ?  The  answer  is  interesting.  It  received 
this  name  from  the  stand  which  it  took  and  the 
part  which  it  played  during  the  days  of  the  Eng- 
lish Revolution  and  during  the  period  of  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth,  inaugurated  by  Oliver  Crom- 
well. As  Virginia  was  largely  Cavalier  in  those 
days,  it  was  full  of  Royalists.  It  was  intensely 
aristocratic.  It  was  for  the  king  and  against  the 
Parliament.  When  Cromwell  beheaded  Charles 
I.,  thousands  of  Cavalier  Royalists  poured  into 
the  colony  of  Virginia.  The  colony  took  action 
through  its  officials,  civil  and  church,  upon  the 
execution  of  Charles  I.  It  called  his  execution 
murder,  and  it  denominated  the  Parliamentarians 
regicides.  It  was  enacted  that  all  in  the  colony 
who  justified  the  king's  death  should  be  considered 


26    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

traitors,  and  treated  as  though  they  had  handled 
the  knife  and  had  actually  beheaded  the  king. 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  a  fiery  Cavalier,  was  the 
governor  of  the  colony  at  the  time,  and  he  led  in 
this  legislation.  The  sympathies  of  the  colony 
went  out  to  Charles  II.,  the  son  of  the  executed 
king,  and  he  was  declared  the  legal  successor  of 
his  father.  Under  the  direction  of  Berkeley, 
Colonel  Richard  Lee,  a  rich  planter  and  a  Cavalier, 
went  to  visit  Charles  II.  in  his  exile  in  France  and 
to  offer  him  Virginia  as  a  kingdom.  Lee  besought 
him  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  to  set  up  his  rule  in 
the  colony  as  king.  This  was  the  first  dominion 
which  Charles  II.  had  offered  him.  It  was  his 
oldest  dominion.  Charles  never  forgot  this. 
When  he  was  crowned  in  England,  on  the  day  of 
his  coronation  he  robed  himself  in  Virginia  silk  to 
show  his  gratitude  to  Virginia.  This  lifted  Virginia 
in  the  estimation  of  the  British  empire.  When 
coins  were  minted  under  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
they  had  stamped  on  them  that  the  kingdom  hence- 
forth consisted  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
Virginia.  One  of  these  coins  may  be  seen  to-day 
in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  collec- 
tion. This  was  considered  a  great  honor  for  the 
little  colony  to  rank  it  with  such  great  countries  as 
England  and  Scotland  ;  and  so  the  colony  was  ever 
after  spoken  of  as  "  Old  Dominion."  Charles  had 
dominion  here  when  he  had  dominion  nowhere 
else. 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  27 

What  hope  for  a  republic,  we  ask,  can  come 
from  a  colony  such  as  this?  Yet  the  Revolution- 
ary leaders  of  Virginia,  who  formed  an  illustrious 
group  and  who  gave  America  its  illustrious  and 
Revolutionary  sayings, — the  sayings  that  awoke 
the  slumbering  spirit  of  liberty  far  and  near, — 
were  men  nearly  all  of  whom  were  descendants 
of  these  bitter  Royalists  and  Cromwell-hating 
Cavaliers.  It  was  a  descendant  of  this  very  Rich- 
ard Lee  who  went  to  France  to  bring  Charles  II. 
to  Virginia  to  rule  as  king,  viz.,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  who  originated  the  Committee  of  Correspon- 
dence which  brought  the  thirteen  colonies  together 
to  strike  unitedly  for  freedom,  and  who  was  the 
author  of  the  "  Address  to  the  Colonies/'  and 
who,  in  the  Continental  Congress,  moved  Amer- 
ica's Declaration  of  Independence  in  these  words, 
which  he  offered  as  a  motion :  "Resolved,  That 
these  united  colonies  are  and  ought  to  be  free  and 
independent  States,  and  that  all  political  connec- 
tion between  them  and  the  state  of  Great  Britain 
is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved."  This  mo- 
tion, made  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  a  Virginian, 
was  seconded  by  John  Adams,  a  leader  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  having  been  debated  for  three  full 
days,  it  was  finally  passed.  Thus  Richard  Henry 
Lee  was  a  leader  and  a  great  man  in  the  new 
times  of  Virginia,  just  as  his  ancestor,  Richard 
Lee,  was  a  leader  and  a  pushing  man  in  the  old 
times  of  Virginia. 


28     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

The  first  point  which  I  wish  to  make  is  this: 
Old  Dominion  served  America  and  told  in  its 
higher  and  present  making  by  the  things  which 
she  fought  out  of  existence  and  eternally  buried 
and  by  the  progress  which  she  made  upon  her  own 
self.  She  struck  down  and  buried  the  ideals  and 
the  principles  and  the  prejudices  and  the  proposals 
of  Richard  Lee  of  the  time  of  the  Cromwellian 
Commonwealth,  and  she  made  way  for  and  adopted 
the  advanced  ideals  and  the  republican  princi- 
ples of  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  the  Revolutionary 
era. 

The  history  of  the  Virginia  Colony  has  not  as 
yet  been  fully  and  worthily  written.  No  Ameri- 
can history  has  been  adequately  written  except 
the  history  of  New  England.  New  England, 
whose  ideal  has  been  education,  has  through  its 
oldest  and  best-equipped  universities  produced 
the  scholars  of  America  and  has  given  the  country 
its  national  poets,  and  these  have  rewarded  her  by 
writing  her  history  and  putting  it  into  verse  and 
song.  There  is  no  discount  on  the  history  of  New 
England ;  I  am  not  derogating  it ;  I  am  only  say- 
ing that  she  is  fortunate  in  having  the  pioneer  his- 
torians of  America.  The  other  colonies  will  some 
day  have  their  historians,  and  then  we  shall  have 
a  new  era  in  American  history-writing.  Virginia's 
day  is  coming;  her  history  is  full  of  remarkable 
scenes ;  they  only  need  to  be  well  told  or  cast  into 
the  form  of  romance  or  allowed  to  flow  from  the 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  29 

pen  of  the  poet  in  jeweled  words.  Give  them  a 
Longfellow  and  a  Lowell  and  a  Holmes  and  a 
Hawthorne  to  take  them  from  their  homely  and 
traditional  form  and  recast  them  and  put  into 
them  the  charm  of  wit  and  fancy  and  give  them 
beauty  of  expression,  and  they  will  go  thrilling 
through  this  nation  with  a  power  that  will  kindle 
anew  the  old  spirit  of  liberty  and  bring  into  exis- 
tence a  strong,  fresh  love  of  country. 

The  colony  of  Virginia  antedated  the  colony  of 
Plymouth  Rock  some  thirteen  years.  It  sailed 
from  London  in  three  vessels  on  December  19, 
1606.  The  names  of  the  three  vessels  were  the 
Discovery,  the  Good  Speed,  and  the  Susan  Content. 
All  London  was  moved  at  the  sight  of  these  three 
little  ships  sailing  down  the  Thames.  Prayers 
were  offered  in  the  churches  for  their  welfare,  and 
their  praises  were  sung  by  the  poets.  Here  are 
two  verses  from  a  glowing  lyric  of  Drayton: 

"  You  brave,  heroic  minds, 
Worthy  your  country's  name, 

That  honor  still  pursue ; 
Whilst  loitering  hinds 
Lurk  here  at  home  with  shame, 

Go  and  subdue. 

"  And  cheerfully  at  sea 
Success  you  still  entice 

To  get  the  pearls  and  gold, 
And  ours  to  hold 
Virginia, 
Earth's  only  paradise." 


30     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

The  voyagers  reached  a  spot  on  the  James  River 
where  they  landed  May  13,  1607.  They  called 
the  spot  Jamestown,  after  the  then  reigning  king, 
James  I.  There  were  just  one  hundred  and  two 
in  this  noted  company.  In  the  sailing-lists  we 
find  them  classed  as  "  gentlemen,  carpenters, 
laborers,  gold-refiners,  jewelers,  and  one  per- 
fumer." Unfortunately  more  than  one  half  the 
company  were  "  gentlemen  "  ;  and  the  term  "  gen- 
tlemen "  signified  persons  unused  to  manual  labor. 
"  Gentlemen,  jewelers,  gold- refiners,  and  one  per- 
fumer "  were  not  the  stuff*  to  fight  the  great  Ameri- 
can wilderness.  Why  did  they  come  to  Virginia? 
Some  had  it  warmly  at  heart  to  convert  the  In- 
dians to  Christianity ;  some  looked  to  the  extension 
of  the  British  empire ;  but  the  great  majority  ex- 
pected easily  to  pick  up  pearls  and  gold.  They 
expected  to  dig  gold,  wash  gold,  refine  gold,  and 
ship  gold. 

These  Jamestown  people  had  a  hard  time  of  it. 
In  the  first  place,  their  leaders  were  worthless  and 
indolent ;  and  in  the  second  place,  the  majority  of 
them  who  came  for  gold  were  sadly  disappointed 
and  paralyzed  with  despair.  Besides  this  they 
had  chosen  a  swamp  for  a  building-place,  and  they 
soon  lost  their  health.  The  first  years  at  James- 
town were  years  filled  with  mutiny,  internal  strife, 
treason,  epidemic,  exposure,  fever,  starvation, 
massacre,  disastrous  fire,  famine,  and  death. 
There  was  only  one  masterful  man  among  them, 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  31 

and  that  was  Captain  John  Smith,  whose  presence 
and  effort  kept  the  colony  from  absolute  extinc- 
tion. This  man  was  only  three  years,  all  told,  in 
America;  but  he  made  for  himself  an  undying 
name.      He  returned  to  England. 

The  experience  of  Jamestown  was  more  terrible 
than  the  experience  of  Plymouth,  and  came  nearer 
being  a  failure.  Was  there  a  reason  for  this  ?  Yes. 
Were  not  the  two  colonies  precisely  alike?  No; 
they  both  came  from  England,  that  is  true ;  but  the 
Jamestown  Colony  lacked  this,  viz.,  the  presence  and 
the  patience  and  the  pacifying  influence  and  the 
elevating  power  of  a  heroic  Christian  womanhood. 
The  Pilgrims  of  the  Mayflower  brought  their 
wives  and  children  with  them ;  they  had  the  home 
in  their  colony.  Woman  makes  the  home,  and 
the  home  makes  the  church  and  the  state.  If 
Plymouth  Rock  had  been  minus  the  home,  the 
future  of  New  England  would  have  been  changed. 
The  men  who  came  over  in  the  Discovery,  the 
Good  Speed,  and  the  Susan  Content  left  the  women 
and  the  children  in  England.  There  was  not  a 
single  woman  in  the  whole  colony ;  and  that  is 
the  reason  they  acted  as  savages  and  quarreled 
and  were  decimated.  What  could  we  expect 
from  a  hundred  and  two  old  bachelors — a  com- 
munity of  bachelors?  It  is  as  much  as  society 
can  do  to  get  along  with  one  here  and  there  in  the 
community.  A  colony  of  bachelors  never  carried 
any  cause  on  earth  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and 


32     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

never  will.  God  pronounced  a  bachelor  in  the 
midst  of  the  glories  of  Paradise  as  unequipped  for 
life.  As  it  was,  this  colony  of  bachelors  was 
saved  by  the  hand  of  a  woman. 

Just  here  comes  in  the  beautiful  story  of  Poca- 
hontas, who  saved  the  life  of  Captain  John  Smith. 
Her  father,  King  Powhatan,  doomed  him  to  death, 
but  she  gave  him  back  to  the  colony  that  he 
might  save  it.  Has  Plymouth  Rock  the  story  of 
Priscilla  Alden?  Jamestown  has  the  story  of  the 
Indian  princess  Pocahontas.  She  was  beauty  in 
bronze.  Clad  in  doeskin  trimmed  with  feathers, 
and  with  her  feet  sandaled  with  beaded  moccasins 
and  as  beautiful  as  Trilby's,  she  came  to  the  col- 
ony and  went,  an  angel  of  God  and  a  vision  of 
love.  Again  and  again,  with  her  Indian  maidens, 
she  brought  corn  to  the  whites  when  they  were 
starving;  and  again  and  again  she  warned  the 
colony  and  saved  it  from  massacre.  Pocahontas 
became  a  Christian,  and  was  publicly  baptized  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitaker,  the  "apostle  of  Virginia." 
She  married  John  Rolfe,  with  whom  she  went  to 
England,  where  she  was  received  by  the  royal 
court  and  greatly  honored.  Just  as  she  was  about 
to  embark  for  home  she  fell  ill  and  died,  and  was 
buried  in  the  parish  church  of  Gravesend,  Eng- 
land. She  left  one  son,  who  married  a  worthy 
Englishwoman  and  who  became  great  in  the  col- 
ony. Like  the  Alden  family  in  Massachusetts, 
the  Pocahontas  family  in  Virginia  formed  a  sort  of 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  33 

American  aristocracy.  John  Randolph,  the  fa- 
mous orator  of  Virginia,  was  one  of  her  descen- 
dants. Of  her  Captain  John  Smith  wrote  to  Queen 
Anne :  "  Her  services  to  Virginia  were  as  great  as 
those  to  myself,  for  she  was  the  instrument  under 
God  of  preserving  the  whole  colony  from  destruc- 
tion." 

I  relate  the  story  of  Pocahontas  at  this  point, 
for  it  comes  in  here  legitimately.  I  am  now 
speaking  of  the  power  of  woman  in  relation  to  the 
history  of  Virginia.  She  was  the  first  woman  in 
the  colony,  and  her  presence  meant  the  very  life 
of  the  colony.  But  she  was  not  the  only  woman 
that  exercised  a  power  in  Virginia.  There  were 
certain  widows  there  whose  names  have  become 
famous  in  history.  It  is  marvelous  how  the 
widows  gracefully  figure  in  this  history.  In  the 
battle  of  love  the  very  greatest  men  of  Virginia 
were  finally  captivated  and  captured  by  widows. 
I  never  heard  or  read  anything  like  it.  Jefferson, 
who  wrote  the  American  Declaration,  was  com- 
pelled to  make  another  declaration — a  declaration 
of  the  surrenderof  his  personal  independence, — and 
that  by  a  dashing  widow  with  a  fortune.  Madi- 
son, the  father  of  the  American  Constitution,  met 
Widow  Todd,  and  she  immediately  set  him  at  work 
writing  another  constitution  besides  the  Constitu- 
tion for  the  nation,  viz.,  a  constitution  for  home 
rule.  George  Washington  captured  Cornwallis; 
but  when  he  came  face  to  face  with  Widow  Custis, 


34     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

she  captured  him.  This  last  incident  has  led  one 
of  our  pulpiteers  to  exclaim  in  a  powerful  sermon 
on  woman :  "  Great  is  the  power  of  woman ! 
George  Washington  governed  America,  but  Mar- 
tha governed  George."  There  is  a  moral  here, 
and  it  is  for  hard-hearted  bachelors;  it  is  this: 
beware  of  Virginia  widows ;  like  Ruth  of  old,  they 
glean  everything  that  is  in  the  field. 

But  my  point  is  this :  the  Virginia  Colony  never 
succeeded  until  woman,  with  her  tact  and  love 
and  holy  life,  came  upon  the  scene.  Twelve  years 
after  the  three  ships,  carrying  only  men,  had 
landed  at  Jamestown,  another  ship  landed  there 
carrying  only  women.  In  the  year  1619  those  in 
England  who  were  interested  in  the  colony,  rec- 
ognizing its  deficiency,  induced  one  hundred  of 
the  handsomest  daughters  of  the  land  to  sail  for 
Jamestown  with  the  express  purpose  of  entering 
wedlock  and  setting  up  homes  in  the  colony.  The 
scheme  worked  well,  and  in  twenty-four  hours 
after  these  beautiful  daughters  landed  the  parson 
of  the  colony  had  made  a  snug  little  fortune. 
The  letters  written  home  by  these  new-made 
brides  brought  another  vessel  over  from  England 
with  sixty  additional  fair  maids. 

After  the  establishment  of  homes  in  the  colony 
the  colony  took  on  a  new  life.  Dissensions  ceased, 
adventure  gave  way  to  solid,  persistent  work, 
the  plantations  gave  large  harvests,  and  the  white 
angel  of  health  hovered  over  the  whole  community. 


THE    OLD   DOMINION.  35 

There  are  two  questions  which  I  imagine 
thoughtful  men  ask  me  just  here,  and  I  will  en- 
deavor briefly  to  answer  them. 

The  first  is  this :  How  did  the  colony  of  Vir- 
ginia differ  in  its  life  and  government  from  the 
colonies  of  New  England? 

That  question  is  a  useful  question.  We  learn 
by  contrasting  things ;  there  is  a  contrast  right 
here,  and  a  marked  contrast.  In  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies  the  people  lived  in  towns,  and  this 
determined  their  government.  The  township  is 
still  the  unit  of  government  in  New  England.  In 
Virginia  the  county  was  the  unit  of  government. 
There  were  no  towns  of  any  account  in  Virginia. 
Up  to  the  Revolutionary  War  even  its  capital 
was  only  a  small  village.  In  New  England  each 
township  had  its  own  meeting,  and  there  all  were 
equal  and  had  an  equal  voice.  This  Professor 
John  Fiske  claims  was  the  germ  of  our  Republic. 
He  traces  American  liberties  and  American  equal- 
ity and  American  popular  institutions  to  the  town- 
meeting.  Virginia  did  not  have  town-meetings, 
for  it  had  no  towns  ;  so  Virginia  did  not  contribute 
to  the  American  nationality  popular  institutions, 
as  New  England  did.  All  of  our  popular  institu- 
tions came  from  New  England  ;  but  Virginia  gave 
the  American  nationality  men  and  measures  in- 
stead of  popular  institutions.  This  will  appear  as 
we  proceed.  That  is  the  contribution  of  Virginia 
to  America — men  and  measures,     Me»  to  man  in- 


36     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

stitutions  and  lead,  and  measures  for  institutions 
to  work  out  into  a  glorious  consummation.  If 
Virginia  had  no  towns,  what  had  it  in  their  place  ? 
It  had  large  plantations.  Those  of  you  who  carry 
in  your  minds  the  map  of  Virginia  will  remember 
how  it  is  blessed  with  rivers.  Four  large,  beauti- 
ful, navigable  rivers  flow  parallel — the  James  River, 
the  York  River,  the  Rappahannock  River,  and  the 
Potomac.  The  great  Virginia  plantations  fronted 
on  these  large  rivers,  and  this  allowed  the  ships  of 
England  to  come  to  the  plantations  for  the  produce. 
As  trade  was  direct  with  England,  Virginia  did 
not  feel  the  need  of  towns.  This  also  kept  Vir- 
ginia bound  to  England  as  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  were  not.  As  the  plantations  were 
large,  three  or  four  were  enough  to  make  a  county. 
As  the  county  was  the  unit  of  government,  the 
civil  power  was  kept  in  the  hands  of  the  few  who 
owned  the  plantations.  In  New  England  the 
people  ruled  ;  in  Virginia  the  few  ruled.  The  few 
were  responsible ;  the  few  had  to  do  all  the  think- 
ing ;  the  few  had  to  do  all  governmental  work  and 
rule.  While  this  concentrated,  it  developed  also ; 
that  is,  it  developed  the  few  and  made  them  parlia- 
mentarians, diplomats,  and  skilled  statesmen,  able 
to  plan  and  to  draft  and  to  lead.  This  was  what 
the  Virginian  patriots  did  in  the  Revolutionary 
and  pre-Revolutionary  times,  and  this  was  what 
America  needed.  It  was  a  Virginian  who  went 
into  Massachusetts  and  took  command,  and  he  did 


THE    OLD  DOMINION.  37 

that  because  in  Massachusetts,  with  all  its  popular 
education  and  all  its  popular  politics,  there  was 
not  a  man  that  could  do  what  George  Washington 
did.  It  was  a  Massachusetts  man,  Mr.  Adams, 
who  made  the  motion  in  Congress  that  put  George 
Washington  at  the  head  of  the  New  England 
army.  Government  by  the  few  is  not  what  we 
would  choose  to-day,  but  government  by  the  few 
in  Old  Dominion  made  the  men  who  drafted  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  and  who  led  the  continental 
army  to  the  victory  which  gave  us  the  American 
nation.  Men  and  measures,  that  was  the  contri- 
bution of  Old  Dominion  to  the  Republic. 

The  second  question  which  you  ask  is:  How 
did  Virginia  differ  from  New  England  in  education 
and  religion  ? 

We  are  still  learning  by  contrast.  The  idol  of 
New  England  was  education  ;  it  had  its  free  public 
schools  everywhere.  Virginia  did  not  take  to  edu- 
cation ;  it  did  not  wish  schools  for  its  black  slaves 
nor  for  its  white  servants.  General  education  had 
very  little  place  in  this  colony  before  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  you  could  count  its  free  schools  on  your 
fingers.  The  few  who  were  educated  went  to  its 
one  college,  William  and  Mary,  or  they  crossed  the 
ocean  and  attended  the  universities  of  England. 

As  for  religion,  the  church  of  New  England  was 
the  Independent  Church ;  the  church  of  Virginia 
was  the  Church  of  England.     There  was  no  free 


38     MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

discussion  in  the  Church  of  England  like  the  free 
discussion  in  the  Independent  Church;  but  there 
were  in  it  the  truth  of  the  Bible  and  holy  doctrine 
and  inspiring  prayers ;  there  were  in  it  that  which 
brought  God  into  life  and  that  which  created  a 
conscience  toward  God  and  man.  We  must  not 
forget  that  the  Church  of  England  carried  in  it  the 
Puritans,  and  nurtured  them  until  they  blossomed 
and  fruited.  It  also  carried  in  it  the  Wesleys, 
until  they  blossomed  and  fruited.  John  Wesley 
and  Charles  Wesley  both  labored  in  the  Church  of 
England  in  the  colony  of  Georgia.  For  Ameri- 
cans it  was  a  good  church  to  leave  in  order  to  be- 
come Puritans  and  Methodists. 

Let  us  do  justice  here.  The  Virginia  Colony 
brought  that  church  with  it.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hunt 
was  one  of  the  one  hundred  and  two  who  landed  at 
Jamestown.  The  first  structure  put  up  was  the 
canvas  church.  The  services  were  regularly  kept 
up  ;  everybody  was  required  to  attend  church  or  pay 
a  fine  of  so  many  pounds  of  tobacco.  Tobacco  was 
the  currency  of  that  day.  Ministers  were  paid 
their  salaries  in  tobacco ;  whether  they  would  or 
no  they  were  compelled  to  be  religious  tobacco- 
nists. The  markets  were  quoted  in  pounds  of  to- 
bacco. My  point  is  this :  there  were  here  and 
there  in  the  Church  of  England  as  devout  men 
and  women  as  were  found  in  the  Puritan  church. 
The  individual  got  spiritual  good  from  it ;  but  the 
church  as  administered  was  administered  in  the 


THE  OLD  DOMINION:  39 

interest  of  the  English  throne,  and  was  therefore 
a  hindrance  to  the  march  of  American  freedom. 
It  was  a  state  church ;  and  it  is  logic  that  a  state 
church  must  take  its  creed  and  its  conduct  from 
the  state  that  owns  it  and  pays  its  expenses.  This 
is  the  history  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Vir~ 
ginia  during  the  Revolutionary  times ;  it  was  for 
England  and  not  for  America.  Madison  says,  "  If 
the  Church  of  England  had  been  the  established 
church  in  all  of  the  colonies,  the  American  Repub- 
lic would  have  been  an  impossibility."  In  these 
early  days  it  was  exclusive.  It  bitterly  persecuted. 
All  who  came  into  the  colony  were  required  to 
support  it  and  swear  allegiance  to  it.  The  Bap- 
tists were  driven  out  of  the  colony,  and  so  were 
the  Presbyterians  and  so  were  the  Congregation- 
alists.  Fines  were  imposed  by  its  dictation,  and 
so  were  tortures  and  imprisonments.  It  prescribed 
such  things  as  ducking  and  boring  the  tongue  with 
an  awl.  I  do  not  think  so  much  of  that;  for  in 
those  days  such  things  were  in  the  air.  This  in- 
tolerance actually  was  progress,  if  you  put  it  side 
by  side  with  the  religious  hate  which  scattered 
the  ashes  of  Wycliffe  on  the  Severn  and  which  dis- 
interred the  body  of  Cromwell  and  insulted  the 
dust  of  the  hero  who  made  England  great.  Did 
the  Episcopalians  persecute  the  Puritans  in  Vir- 
ginia? The  Puritans  persecuted  the  Episcopa- 
lians in  Massachusetts.  There  is  nothing  wrong 
with  religion  on  this  account ;  no,  the  wrong  is  in 


40    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC* 

the  application  and  administration  of  religion. 
The  Episcopal  Church  of  America  in  the  process 
of  time  freed  itself  from  a  wrong  administration 
and  divorced  itself  from  the  state.  It  gave  a  wel- 
come to  republican  principles ;  it  ceased  being 
"English  and  became  American.  When  it  did  that 
it  was  raised  from  the  dead  and  became  a  power 
for  liberty.  There  is  a  long  distance  from  the 
church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hunt  of  Jamestown  to  the 
church  of  the  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks  of  Boston ;  and 
the  distance  is  every  step  of  it  progress.  That  pro- 
gress carried  in  it  our  national  development  from 
a  monarchy  to  a  republic. 

Virginia  had  one  other  thing  which  differentiated 
it  from  the  colonies  of  New  England,  and  that  was 
the  system  of  slavery.  Within  twelve  months  of 
the  time  the  Mayflozver  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock, 
a  Dutch  man-of-war  entered  the  James  River  and 
landed  there  an  ill-fated  cargo  of  twenty  negro 
slaves.  That  was  a  crime,  which  ended  in  our 
Civil  War.  Those  two  ships  were  two  rival  forces ; 
they  carried  in  them  principles  which  were  in 
deadly  antagonism.  The  Civil  War  was  simply 
the  climax  of  the  long  battle  between  the  two 
ships  and  their  different  thoughts  and  different 
principles  and  different  civilizations.  You  know 
the  result.  It  accorded  with  the  overrule  of  a 
just  and  righteous  God  in  the  affairs  of  men.  The 
Mayflozver  won  and  the  slave-ship  went  down. 
That  also  was  progress  for  Virginia. 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  41 

I  should  like  to  speak  here,  if  time  permitted, 
of  the  great  rebellion  which  took  place  in  Virginia 
led  by  Nathaniel  Bacon,  but  I  cannot.  That  re- 
bellion took  place  in  1676,  just  one  hundred  years 
before  the  Revolution,  and  embodied  in  it  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  the  very  same  principles  as 
the  Revolution.  Had  it  succeeded  our  indepen- 
dence would  have  come  a  century  earlier.  Thus  in 
that  far-off  day  Virginia  was  training  her  sons  to 
keep  step  with  the  coming  continental  army,  and 
was  also  sighting  her  guns  to  bear  upon  tyranny. 

I  have  said  that  Virginia's  contribution  to 
America  was  men  and  meastircs.  I  must  hasten 
to  speak  of  some  of  these.  And  here  I  must  ex- 
ercise selection  ;  I  must  center  our  thoughts  around 
the  Revolution. 

The  first  man  with  whom  I  begin  is  Patrick 
Henry.  He  was  the  leader  of  leaders.  Speaking 
figuratively,  he  was  the  man  who  fired  the  first 
Revolutionary  gun.  He  was  the  first  to  be  called 
a  traitor;  he  was  the  orator  of  the  Revolution ;  he 
learned  the  principles  of  liberty  from  his  Presby- 
terian ancestors,  and  taught  them  to  the  men  of 
the  Church  of  England.  He  gradually  grew  to- 
ward that  famous  saying  of  his  which  became  the 
watchword  of  the  Revolution,  and  which  regiments 
carried  on  their  banners  and  flags,  and  men  in  the 
ranks  carried  in  letters  that  burned  on  their  uni- 
forms, viz.,  "  Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death." 
The  framing  of  these  words  was  impromptu,  but 


42    MAKERS  OE  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  spirit  back  of  them  and  in  them,  which  gave 
them  their  power,  was  the  growth  of  a  lifetime. 
He  had  made  his  famous  speech  against  the  clergy 
of  the  Church  of  England  and  won  the  case  before 
the  jury.  He  had  made  his  famous  speech  against 
the  infamous  Stamp  Act  and  had  seen  its  repeal. 
Now  he  was  ready  for  the  famous  saying  itself. 
His  speech  in  which  he  uttered  the  famous  saying 
was  made  in  the  old  St.  John's  Church,  which  still 
stands  on  Virginia  soil.  Feeling  that  the  time  for 
decision  had  come,  this  "  man  of  the  people,"  as 
he  was  called,  arose  and  took  the  floor  and  ad- 
dressed the  convention.  This  was  the  close  of  his 
address :  "  Virginians,  there  is  no  retreat  but  in 
submission  and  slavery.  Our  chains  are  forged; 
their  clinking  may  be  heard  on  the  plains  of  Bos- 
ton. The  war  is  inevitable,  and  let  it  come.  The 
war  has  actually  begun  ;  the  next  gale  that  sweeps 
from  the  North  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash 
of  resounding  arms.  Our  brethren  are  already  in 
the  field.  What  is  it  that  gentlemen  wish  ?  What 
would  they  have?  Is  life  so  dear  or  peace  so 
sweet  as  to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains 
and  slavery?  Forbid  it,  almighty  God.  I  know 
not  what  course  others  may  take ;  but  as  for  me, 
give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death."  As  Patrick 
Henry  uttered  these  words  with  both  arms  raised 
and  his  eyes  on  fire,  it  is  said  that  a  great  thrill  ran 
through  the  whole  assembly.  The  people  were  ready 
to  start  from  their  seats  and  shout,  "  To  arms!" 


THE  OLD  DOMINION.  43 

The  next  man  to  be  mentioned  is  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, the  "  apostle  of  democracy."  He  first  got  his 
republican  inspiration  from  Patrick  Henry.  He  was 
a  young  student  at  William  and  Mary  College  when 
Patrick  Henry  made  his  great  speech  against  the 
Stamp  Act.  Patrick  Henry  put  fire  into  his  voice, 
Jefferson  put  fire  into  his  pen.  One  sentence,  which 
he  wrote  months  before  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
began  thus :  "  There  is  not  in  the  British  empire 
a  man  who  more  cordially  loves  a  union  with 
Great  Britain  than  I  do;  but,  by  the  God  that 
made  me,  I  will  cease  to  exist  before  I  yield  to  a 
connection  on  such  terms  as  the  British  Parliament 
proposes;  and  in  this  I  think  I  speak  the  senti- 
ments of  America."  It  was  Jefferson  who  said: 
"  America  was  conquered  and  her  settlements 
made  and  firmly  established  at  the  expense  of  in- 
dividuals >  and  not  by  the  British  crown ;  therefore 
the  British  Parliament  have  no  right  to  exercise 
authority  over  us."  That  was  clear  and  irrefu- 
table reasoning.  Jefferson  sums  up  his  own  life 
for  the  cause  of  freedom  in  these  words  in  his 
diary :  "  I  sometimes  ask  myself  whether  my 
country  is  the  better  for  my  having  lived  at  all. 
I  have  been  the  instrument  of  doing  the  following 
things :  procuring  the  disestablishment  of  the  state 
church,  putting  an  end  to  the  entail  system,  which 
tended  to  aristocracy,  securing  the  prohibition  of 
the  fresh  importation  of  slaves,  and  drafting  the 
Declaration  of  Independence."     Fifty  years  after 


44    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

signing  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  died, 
on  the  4th  of  July.  John  Adams  died  the  same 
day. 

Next  comes  the  greatest  man  of  all,  George 
Washington,  the  "  father  of  our  country."  He 
was  the  Virginian  of  the  Virginians,  just  as  he  was 
the  American  of  the  Americans.  He  carried  the 
Revolution  in  himself  and  the  Republic  in  himself 
and  the  great  American  future  in  himself.  He 
was  in  everything,  from  alpha  to  omega,  and 
everything  was  in  him.  From  the  battle  of  Dor- 
chester Heights,  when  he  took  Boston  from  the 
British,  to  the  battle  of  Yorktown,  where  he  ended 
the  Revolutionary  War  by  the  capture  of  Corn- 
wallis,  he  was  in  everything.  Thus  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  which  began  in  Massachusetts,  ended 
in  Virginia,  and  ended  right  near  the  spot  where 
Patrick  Henry  uttered  his  famous  words.  And  it 
was  a  Virginian,  too,  who  fired  the  first  cannon  in 
the  last  battle,  General  Nelson.  General  Nelson 
was  a  citizen  of  Yorktown.  When  Cornwallis 
entered  the  town  he  made  General  Nelson's  man- 
sion his  headquarters.  When  the  time  came  for 
the  battle  of  Yorktown  to  begin,  the  gunners  hesi- 
tated to  fire  on  the  home  of  one  of  their  own  men  ; 
so  Nelson  himself  stepped  forward  and  aimed  a 
cannon  at  his  own  mansion,  and  touched  the  fuse 
and  sent  a  thunderbolt  of  war  crashing  through 
his  old  homestead.  That  act  was  magic;  it  fired 
the  whole  army  with  a  fighting  patriotism. 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  45 

When  the  Revolutionary  War  was  ended  and  the 
treaty  of  peace  signed,  all  was  not  over.  America 
was  not  yet  a  republic.  The  critical  time  had  only 
been  reached.  What  was  done  afterward  was  as 
great  as  what  had  been  done  before.  The  victo- 
ries of  peace  were  yet  to  be  won.  There  were 
still  dangers,  great  dangers.  The  colonies  were  in 
danger  of  falling  apart  and  of  entering  into  battle 
with  one  another.  The  war  debt  made  trouble. 
There  was  financial  distress.  The  Articles  of 
Confederation  which  bound  the  new  States  to- 
gether were  too  indefinite  and  too  feeble.  There 
was  a  lack  of  power  to  raise  taxes.  Everything 
was  chaos.  In  resolving  things  to  order  the  Vir- 
ginians took  the  lead.  Madison  the  Virginian, 
trained,  according  to  Bancroft,  under  the  Presby- 
terian Writherspoon,  president  of  Princeton  College, 
was  the  father  of  the  Constitution  which  gave  the 
nation  unity  and  power,  and  Washington  was  the 
president  of  the  famous  Constitutional  Convention. 
It  was  this  convention  that  gathered  up  the  results 
of  the  Revolutionary  War  and  built  them  into  our 
great  Republic. 

To  sum  up,  this  is  what  Virginia  did  for  the 
American  Republic  by  way  of  men  and  measures. 
She  gave  the  country  such  men  as  these :  Patrick 
Henry,  the  orator  of  the  Revolution ;  Thomas 
Jefferson,  the  pen  of  the  Revolution  ;  Daniel  Mor- 
gan, the  thunderbolt  of  the  Revolution;  John 
Marshall,  the  chief  justice  of  the  Revolution;  and 


46    MAKERS  OE  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

George  Washington,  who  carried  the  Revolution 
to  success.  She  gave  the  country  such  measures 
as  these:  the  resolutions  of  1765,  denouncing  the 
Stamp  Act  as  a  violation  of  American  rights;  the 
origination  in  1773  of  the  Committees  of  Corre- 
spondence, which  united  the  colonies  in  the  defense 
of  their  rights;  the  call  in  1774  for  a  general 
Colonial  Congress,  which  inaugurated  resistance 
against  British  tyranny ;  the  instructions  to  the 
Virginian  delegates  to  propose  to  Congress  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence,  which 
Jefferson  wrote  and  which  Washington  made  a 
reality.  After  this  she  gave  to  the  country  the 
Constitution  of  which  Madison  was  the  father  and 
under  which  George  Washington  was  the  first 
President. 

A  Virginian  raised  the  first  public  voice  against 
the  tyranny  of  the  mother-land ;  a  Virginian  first 
moved  our  national  independence  in  the  Continen- 
tal Congress ;  a  Virginian  wrote  the  Declaration 
of  Independence ;  a  Virginian  was  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  continental  army  all  through  the  Revo- 
lutionary War;  a  Virginian  brought  that  war  to 
a  successful  close ;  a  Virginian  was  the  father  of 
the  American  Constitution ;  a  Virginian  was  the 
president  of  the  Constitutional  Convention ;  a  Vir- 
ginian was  the  first  President  of  the  United  States  ; 
a  Virginian  first  shaped  our  foreign  policy;  a  Vir- 
ginian first  saw  beyond  the  colonial  into  the  na- 
tional future  of  our  country,  and  first  discerned  in 


THE   OLD  DOMINION.  47 

the  opening  and  new  times  that  future  which  is 
now  our  manifest  destiny. 

It  is  easy  for  me  to  draw  this  address  to  a  con- 
clusion and  to  point  its  moral.  The  conclusion  of 
my  address  is  this :  If  we  are  to  be  true  sons  of  our 
renowned  fathers,  we  must  do  as  they  did ;  zve  must 
give  our  country  GRAND  MEN  AND  GRAND  MEA- 
SURES. 

We  have  seen  to-night  the  type  of  men  that 
make  a  magnificent  nation.  They  are  apocalyptic 
men ;  men  who  see  in  the  future  sublime  visions 
for  their  country ;  men  of  large  prevision ;  men 
who  are  not  colonial  nor  local,  but  national ;  men 
of  sacrifice;  men  of  persistence;  men  of  progress; 
men  who  are  not  afraid  to  improve  on  their  ances- 
tors ;  men  of  eloquence ;  men  of  powerful  pens ; 
men  of  executive  ability ;  men  like  George  Wash- 
ington, who  had  not  only  the  genius  of  intellect 
and  the  genius  of  war  and  the  genius  of  states- 
manship, but  who  had  also  and  preeminently  the 
genius  of  character ;  men  who  are  genuine  through 
and  through ;  true  men  and  God-fearing  men. 

"  God  give  us  men!      A  time  like  this  demands 

Clean  minds,  pure  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands. 

Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 

Men  whom  desire  for  office  does  not  kill ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 

Men  who  have  honor ;  men  who  will  not  lie  ; 

Tall  men ;  sun-crowned  men ;  men  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking; 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  denounce  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking. 


48     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

For  while  base  tricksters,  with  their  worn-out  creeds, 
Their  large  professions,  and  their  little  deeds, 
Wrangle  in  selfish  strife,  lo!    Freedom  weeps, 
Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps." 

If  we  give  ourselves  to  our  country  in  the  form 
of  such  men,  we  will  be  certain  to  give  our  coun- 
try the  grand  and  needed  measures  which  its  des- 
tiny demands ;  for  grand  men  always  carry  in 
themselves  grand  measures.  We  are  still  in  our 
formative  period.  The  clothes  of  the  boy  will  not 
answer  for  the  clothes  of  the  man.  Growth  brings 
new  problems.  We  need  measures  that  will  han- 
dle vast  numbers  and  that  will  give  to  the  indi- 
vidual his  rights,  while  at  the  same  time  conserv- 
ing the  rights  of  the  many ;  we  need  measures 
that  will  deal  with  minorities  and  majorities,  and 
be  fair  to  both ;  we  need  measures  that  will  absorb 
our  foreign  elements  and  conform  them  into  a 
right  and  lofty  political  type ;  we  need  measures 
that  will  secure  to  the  country  an  honest  mone- 
tary system  and  that  will  not  fail  to  put  a  hundred 
cents  into  every  dollar.  We  talk  of  the  old  colo- 
nial and  Revolutionary  times  as  times  that  were 
big.  Times  are  always  big  to  earnest  men ;  our 
times  are  big  to  us  if  we  are  earnest;  they  are 
crowded  with  problems  that  can  only  be  solved  by 
men  like  Washington  and  Jefferson.  There  is  the 
money  problem,  and  the  labor  problem,  and  the 
tariff  problem,  and  the  emigration  problem,  and 
the  education  problem,  and  the  problem  of  our 


THE    OLD  DOMINION.  49 

foreign  policy.  Then  there  is  the  great  problem 
of  our  relation  to  broad  humanity.  The  oppressed 
in  all  the  nations  of  the  globe  are  looking  toward 
America  for  light,  for  ruling  principles,  for  certain 
guidance,  and  for  a  helping,  uplifting  hand.  We 
have  a  mission  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  as 
well  as  a  mission  to  our  citizens  at  home.  Our 
experience  gives  us  that  mission ;  our  progress 
gives  us  that  mission ;  our  holy  ambition  to  reach 
the  highest  civilization  gives  us  that  mission.  It 
is  our  mission  to  lead  humanity  on  all  continents, 
and  it  is  our  mission  to  lead  just  because  civilly 
we  are  ahead  of  humanity. 

To  take  a  concrete  case :  there  is  the  suffering 
Armenian  race  trampled  ruthlessly  into  annihila- 
tion by  the  merciless  heel  of  the  God-forsaken 
Turk.  Oh,  what  shrieks  of  anguish  pierce  the  air 
of  the  Orient  this  very  hour!  What  unnamable 
atrocities  are  inflicted  upon  pure-minded  Christian 
women  and  innocent  little  children!  what  profane 
and  unholy  mutilation  of  noble  men — men  made 
in  the  image  of  the  one  living  and  true  God! 
Behold  how  virtue  is  mocked!  Great  God!  how 
can  these  human  monsters  go  into  Thine  ineffable 
presence  besotted,  blood-stained,  dehumanized, 
and  crime-covered?  How  can  they  face  Thy 
judgment-throne  to  receive  their  final  damnation.'' 
Has  the  American  Republic  no  interest  in  all  this? 
has  it  no  duty?  has  it  no  mission?  One  thing  I 
know,  and  that  is  this :  silence  is  not  its  duty.      It 


50     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

has  a  voice  in  this  world,  and  it  is  its  mission  to 
make  its  voice  heard.  Let  the  Senate  speak ;  let 
the  House  speak ;  let  the  navy  speak  ;  and  in  God's 
name  and  in  humanity's  name  command  that 
rapine  and  self-inflicted  famine  and  cold-blooded 
murder  shall  cease  at  once  and  cease  forever.  Oh, 
for  a  Patrick  Henry  to  propose  a  measure  for  the 
present  emergency,  or  a  Jefferson  or  a  Washing- 
ton! Oh,  for  a  Marshall  and  a  Lee  and  a  Mason 
to  call  together  a  committee  of  conference  from  all 
the  civilized  nations  of  the  world  to  set  up  per- 
manently an  international  court  of  justice  to  try 
just  such  cases  as  this ;  to  see  that  all  men  in 
power — men  who  are  responsible  to  no  one  but 
themselves  and  their  lusts — shall  be  held  respon- 
sible to  justice  somewhere.  No  man  on  God's 
earth  should  be  allowed  to  live  a  life  irresponsible 
to  justice.  Why  should  there  be  courts  of  justice 
all  over  the  world  for  subjects,  and  not  courts  of 
justice  for  rulers?  So  long  as  this  is  the  case  the 
system  for  the  administration  of  justice  among 
men  is  far  from  complete.  With  such  an  inter- 
national court  of  justice  in  existence,  the  sultan  of 
Turkey  could  this  very  hour  be  indicted  for  mur- 
der in  the  first  degree,  and  tried ;  and  if  found 
guilty  could  be  decently  executed. 

We  have  to-day  in  our  possession  as  a  nation 
the  key  of  the  old  French  Bastille,  which  in  former 
days  dealt  out  horrible  death  to  innocent  men  and 
tender  women,  just  as  the   sultan   of  Turkey  is 


THE    OLD  DOMINION.  51 

doing  to-day.  When  the  Bastille  was  leveled  to 
the  ground  Lafayette  sent  the  key  to  George 
Washington.  It  hangs  on  the  walls  of  Mount 
Vernon,  where  our  Washington  peacefully  sleeps. 
I  have  held  that  key  in  these  two  hands,  and  have 
praised  God  that  the  days  of  the  Bastille  were  over 
forever. 

Oh,  for  a  measure,  a  wise  measure,  a  strong 
measure,  a  righteous  measure,  an  irresistible  mea- 
sure, an  American  measitre,  a  measure  with  the 
ringing  voice  of  Patrick  Henry  in  it,  a  measure 
with  the  legislative  lore  of  a  Marshall  in  it,  a  mea- 
sure with  the  sure  victory  of  George  Washington 
in  it,  which  will  hang  the  gory  crown  of  the  sultan 
of  Turkey  on  the  walls  of  Mount  Vernon  by  yon- 
der key  of  the  fallen  Bastille ! 

Measures — these  are  what  our  Republic  needs; 
measures  which  will  grow  and  protect  and  bring  to 
perfection  a  fine  Americanism.  There  is  nothing 
grander  than  a  fine  Americanism.  A  fine  Ameri- 
canism is  the  equation  of  the  highest  civilization, 
of  the  broadest  humanity,  of  the  purest  and  sim- 
plest religion,  of  the  largest  liberty,  of  the  grand- 
est personal  and  political  principles,  of  the  richest 
and  most  progressive  Christian  life,  and  of  a  mag- 
nificent manhood  and  a  holy  womanhood. 


II. 

THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS. 


53 


II. 

THE    PILGRIM    FOREFATHERS.* 

Our  chief  duty  in  life  is  to  look  ahead.  The 
golden  age  is  in  the  future.  It  is  among  the  attain- 
ments which  as  yet  are  unreached,  but  which  are 
within  sight  of  faith.  The  standing  command  of 
God  through  Paul  to  humanity  is,  "  Forgetting 
the  things  which  are  behind,  press  forward  toward 
those  things  which  are  before,  and  seize  the  prize 
of  your  high  calling."  Yet  we  have  a  duty  which 
we  owe  the  past :  to  search  the  past,  appreciate  it, 
exalt  its  virtues,  praise  its  conquests,  garner  its 
fruitage,  incorporate  its  wealth  of  thought  and  ex- 
perience, and  transmit  its  good  to  posterity,  and  in 
this  way  give  it  an  earthly  immortality.  A  right 
use  of  the  past  is  a  moral  uplift.  It  is  a  necessary 
equipment  for  the  tasks  of  the  present  and  a  prep- 
aration for  pushing  on  into  the  future. 

I  have  often  been  impressed  by  the  large  place 
which  God  has  given  history  in  the  great  Book  of 
the  world.      In  the  Bible  historical  book  follows 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, at  a  Forefathers'-day  service. 

57 


58     MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

historical  book.  The  Old  Testament  opens  with 
no  less  than  eighteen  books  of  history.  They  are 
interspersed  with  codes  of  law,  it  is  true,  but 
their  chief  characteristic  is  history.  Then  comes  a 
book  of  sacred  songs,  but  of  the  songs  in  this  book 
many  of  them  are  historical  from  beginning  to  end. 
After  the  Book  of  Psalms  comes  the  Book  of  Prov- 
erbs. Then  a  poetical  book  or  two.  Then  sixteen 
books  of  prophecy.  But  what  is  prophecy  but  the 
forecast  of  history?  It  is  history  in  the  form  of 
vision.  The  New  Testament  opens  with  five  books 
of  history,  the  four  gospels  and  the  Book  of  the 
Acts  :  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  history  of 
His  apostles.  Then  follow  a  few  epistles,  and  the 
volume  closes  with  the  Apocalypse.  But  what  is 
the  Apocalypse  ?  Simply  the  history  of  the  future. 
In  the  Bible  history  is  piled  on  history.  The  Bible 
is  God's  voice  crying  to  man,  Study  history !  And 
God's  voice  should  be  heard.  God  is  in  history. 
Truth  is  in  history.  The  expose  of  error  is  in  his- 
tory. The  exhibition  of  the  possibilities  and  the 
potentialities  of  man  is  in  history.  The  exhibit  of 
the  rewards  of  faith  and  of  virtue  and  of  courage 
is  in  history. 

Appropriate  to  this  Forefathers'  service,  we  should 
not  fail  to  notice  how  God  puts  in  the  forefront 
of  the  experience  of  the  nation  of  Israel  the  most 
striking  pages  of  human  history,  and  how  attrac- 
tively He  writes  up  these  pages  of  history.  The 
nation  makes  many  grand  pages  of  history  in  after 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  59 

time — pages  which  bear  the  names  of  David  and 
Solomon  and  Elijah  and  Isaiah  and  Daniel;  but 
none  of  these  surpass  the  pages  which  open  the 
national  volume  of  the  Hebrews :  the  stories  of 
Abraham  and  of  Isaac  ;  the  courtship  of  Jacob  ;  the 
romance  of  Joseph's  exaltation,  a  literal  transcript 
of  real  life ;  the  biography  of  Moses ;  the  plagues 
of  Egypt ;  the  miracle  of  the  Red  Sea ;  the  fall  of 
Jericho.  I  tell  you  that  in  all  of  these  we  have 
romance  piled  upon  romance,  and  power  added  to 
power.  There  is  the  exhibit  of  God  here ;  there  is 
the  wonderful  fulfilment  of  promise ;  there  is  mar- 
velous growth  from  unlikely  seed ;  and  there  is  the 
magnificent  triumph  of  right  over  wrong.  Back 
to  this  history  of  the  opening  of  their  race  the 
Hebrews  constantly  reverted.  Fathers  repeated 
its  stirring  things  to  their  children.  The  prophets 
and  leaders  of  the  nation  used  it  to  reclaim  the 
people  and  to  incite  to  faith  and  enterprise ;  the 
poets  ran  it  into  sweet  verse,  and  minstrels  sang  it 
to  the  stroke  of  the  harp.  Abraham  and  Moses 
and  Jacob  and  Joseph  never  ceased  to  be  powers 
and  leaders  in  the  land. 

When  I  read  the  early  history  of  the  Hebrews 
I  instinctively  say,  Blessed  is  that  nation  that  has 
grand  men  for  its  ancestors,  whose  first  page  of 
history  teems  with  interest,  and  whose  opening 
chapters  are  filled  with  God,  and  with  human  hero- 
ism, the  product  of  union  with  God.  Such  a  history 
will  send  a  holy  and  inspiring  thrill  through  the 


60     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

body  politic  age  after  age.  Such  ancestors  will 
stand  as  eternal  sentinels,  guarding  the  liberties  of 
the  nation  and  the  principles  of  the  nation  and 
the  faith  of  the  nation.  Such  men  will  rebuke 
and  command  the  nation  and  forever  lead  the 
nation. 

In  its  possession  of  noble  ancestry  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  is  like  the  commonwealth  of  Israel. 
Israel  had  Abraham,  who  left  his  native  land  to 
found  a  nation  for  God's  holy  purposes.  America 
has  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  who  left  their  native  land 
for  precisely  the  same  purpose.  They  took  posses- 
sion of  this  continent  for  us,  and  they  left  us  as  a 
heritage  a  history  which  embodies  the  very  princi- 
ples that  have  worked  themselves  out  into  this  vast 
Republic,  with  its  boasted  institutions.  They  left 
us  a  free  church  and  a  free  state  and  a  system  of 
free  schools.  They  left  us  this  golden  principle, 
incarnated  in  working  form :  All  men  are  equal 
before  the  law.  Our  nation  in  its  greatness  to-day 
is  nothing  more  than  the  oak  which  has  sprung 
from  the  acorn  which  they  planted.  And  what  we 
see  is  only  a  prophecy  of  what  shall  be.  There  are 
prayers  of  the  Pilgrims  still  before  the  throne  of 
God  awaiting  an  answer;  and  God  feels  their 
strong  pulsations  beating  in  harmony  with  His 
purposes  for  America,  and  God  keeps  them  con- 
stantly in  sight,  that  they  may  be  ultimately  real- 
ized when  the  right  day  comes.  When  that  day 
comes  they  shall  be  translated  from  divine  decrees 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  61 

into  human  realities.  The  Pilgrim  fathers  are  not 
through  with  America,  and  America  is  not  through 
with  the  Pilgrim  fathers.  God  grant  that  we  may 
never  part  from  them.  God  grant  that  our  nation 
may  never  have  any  future  into  which  Plymouth 
Rock  cannot  be  built  unhewn. 

I  wish  at  this  time  merely  to  recount  in  a  plain 
way  the  story  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  and  then  to 
draw  some  lessons. 

The  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth  Rock  Decem- 
ber 21,  1620.  Their  story  is  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  millennium  old.  In  telling  their  story  let  us 
begin  away  back.  Let  us  begin  with  Henry  VIII. 
of  England.  Henry  VIII.  threw  off  his  allegiance 
to  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  constituted  himself  pon- 
tiff, the  head  of  the  church  in  his  own  land.  His 
motives  were  bad,  but  his  step  was  overruled  by 
the  Lord,  and  made  the  starting-point  of  a  great 
good  to  England  and  the  world.  He  gave  a  stag- 
gering blow  to  a  great  system  of  iniquity.  Bloody 
Mary  took  the  English  church  back  into  allegiance 
to  Rome,  but,  after  Mary,  Elizabeth  broke  again 
the  yoke  of  Rome,  and  made  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land free.  She  brought  with  her  a  reformation, 
but  it  was  a  reformation  which  needed  to  be  re- 
formed. She  was  a  religious  tyrant.  She  made 
herself  supreme  in  her  church,  and  passed  laws  that 
all  should  conform  to  her  church.  She  established 
censorship  over  human  thought,  and  lorded  it  over 
the  human  conscience.     All  who  differed  either  in 


62     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

worship  or  in  doctrine  she  subjected  to  severe  per- 
secution. By  sheer  brute  force  she  determined  to 
create  religious  uniformity. 

Just  here  the  Pilgrims  come  in.  They  could  not 
conform,  and  they  would  not  conform.  Their  in- 
ability existed  in  their  will.  Their  principles  con- 
flicted with  both  the  doctrines  and  the  practices  of 
the  established  church.  What  were  these  principles? 
These:  (i)  Christ  Jesus  alone  is  the  head  of  the 
church,  and  it  is  a  usurpation  for  any  man  or  woman 
to  claim  to  be  head,  or  dictate  to  the  church,  or  to 
prescribe  its  creed  and  worship.  (2)  The  Bible  is 
the  sole  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  All  the  appoint- 
ments in  the  church  must  have  a  divine  warrant  be- 
fore they  can  be  tolerated  or  be  allowed.  It  is  not 
enough  to  say,  There  is  nothing  in  the  Word  of 
God  against  such  and  such  an  ordinance  in  the 
church ;  every  ordinance  must  be  able  to  show,  as 
a  warrant,  a  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord."  (3)  The  church 
is  an  independent  organization,  ruled  by  the  peo- 
ple, under  God.  This  principle  was  directly  con- 
trary to  the  constitution  of  the  established  church. 
In  it  a  few  bishops  were  the  governing  power. 
But  out  of  the  equality  of  all  before  the  Lord,  and 
the  right  of  all  to  a  voice  in  the  church,  grew  the 
great  principles  of  the  rights  of  conscience  and 
of  individual  liberty,  the  foundation-stones  of  our 
American  institutions. 

Believing  thus,  the  Pilgrims  withdrew  from  the 
fellowship  of  the  established  church.    They  organ- 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  63 

ized  churches  of  their  own,  where  they  preached 
the  truth  as  they  understood  it.  The  result  of  this 
was  persecution  by  the  reigning  powers  in  the 
church  and  by  the  civil  government  of  England. 
At  least  three  martyrs  were  executed  for  their 
principles.  Henry  Barrows,  John  Greenwood,  and 
John  Penry  were  put  to  death  in  1593.  The  mur- 
der of  these  men  led  to  the  embarkment  of  many 
individuals,  and  even  of  whole  congregations,  to 
Holland,  where  religious  liberty  was  offered  to  all 
men. 

The  story  narrows  itself  just  here.  One  congre- 
gation claims  our  attention  from  this  point  on. 
This  church  was  formed  in  1606  in  Scrooby,  Not- 
tinghamshire, England.  It  was  organized  by 
mutual  covenant  in  what  was  called  the  Scrooby 
Manor,  a  house  with  royal  associations.  The 
Scrooby  Manor  was  the  cradle  of  Pilgrim  liberty. 
The  church  organized  in  this  house  was  the  May- 
flower church,  and  it  carried  in  it  the  future  of 
America.  To  this  church  Richard  Clifton  at  first 
preached ;  but  he  gave  way  to  a  young  minister 
who  came  to  them,  the  famous  John  Robinson,  a 
graduate  of  Cambridge.  In  that  church  were  men 
destined  to  be  famous  in  the  Plymouth  Colony, 
America.  Here  was  William  Brewster,  the  elder, 
and  the  leader  of  finance.  Here  were  his  children, 
Patience  and  Fear  and  Love  and  Wrestling.  Here 
was  William  Bradford,  the  future  historian  of  the 
church  and  governor  of  Plymouth  Colony.     This 


64    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

church  in  Scrooby  Manor  escaped  persecution 
longer  than  the  other  churches,  but  at  length  its 
time  came,  and  this  drove  it  from  England  to  Hol- 
land. In  Holland  it  went  first  to  Amsterdam,  and 
thence  to  Leyden,  where  it  remained  some  eleven 
or  twelve  years. 

Now  for  the  most  important  step,  the  embarka- 
tion for  America.  Why  did  this  little  church  deter- 
mine to  quit  Holland  ?  This  question  brings  again 
into  view  the  principles  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the 
swaying  motives  of  their  lives.  They  had  several 
reasons :  (i)  They  found  that  they  had  no  room  for 
growth,  no  place  or  opportunity  to  develop  them- 
selves to  their  satisfaction,  and  give  visibility  and 
practicability  to  their  principles.  The  original  stock 
of  emigrants  was  growing  old,  and  they  were  afraid 
that  their  whole  enterprise  would  fade  out  of  sight. 
(2)  They  were  anxious  about  their  children.  To 
use  their  own  words,  "  they  were  in  danger  of  be- 
coming degenerated  and  corrupted;"  for  the  Sab- 
bath was  not  reverenced  at  Leyden  as  they  would 
wish.  (3)  Their  greatest  reason  was  this  :  they  had 
a  burning  desire  to  spread  the  gospel  in  remote  parts 
of  the  ivor ld.: 

Actuated  by  these  principles,  they  sailed  from 
Delfthaven  in  the  ship  Speedzvell,  and,  reaching 
England  after  various  vicissitudes,  sailed  for 
America  in  the  Mayflozver  from  the  port  of  Plym- 
outh. There  were  one  hundred  and  two  souls 
on   board,  and  among  them  were  John  Carver, 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  65 

the  first  governor,  and  Miles  Standish,  the  soldier, 
small  of  stature,  but  large  of  heart. 

Other  events  were  taking  place  at  the  time  they 
sailed.  In  England,  Cromwell  had  just  come  of 
age  and  was  moving  unconsciously  on  to  a  career 
of  influence  which  was  destined  to  rock  England 
and  leave  its  stamp  upon  the  whole  world.  John 
Milton  was  then  but  a  boy,  but  drinking  in  the  love 
of  liberty  which  made  him  a  liberty-loving  man. 
Francis  Bacon  was  a  man  of  sixty.  Shakespeare 
was  working  out  his  great  dramas.  On  the  Conti- 
nent the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  just  breaking  out, 
which  was  destined  to  embroil  all  Europe.  Such 
was  the  time  when  the  Pilgrims  sailed. 

Who  can  tell  the  tedium  and  the  wear  of  that 
rough  passage?  Sixty-four  long  days  passed  be- 
fore (November  9,  1620)  they  sighted  land.  The 
land  which  they  saw  was  Cape  Cod.  This  was  not 
what  they  intended  to  strike ;  they  had  hoped  to 
strike  a  spot  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River. 
After  excursions  and  wanderings  and  perplexities, 
the  Pilgrims  landed  finally  on  the  famous  rock 
which  they  called  Plymouth  in  honor  of  the  port 
from  which  they  had  sailed  in  England.  But  be- 
fore landing  they  drew  up  and  signed  the  famous 
Mayflower  compact,  and  elected  John  Carver  gov- 
ernor. 

The  covenant  carries  in  it  the  declaration  of  the 
Pilgrims'  faith.  It  gives  us  an  insight  into  their 
deepest  purposes.     It  has  the  right  ring  in  it,  and 


66    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

shows  a  clear  perception  of  the  nature  and  obliga- 
tions of  civil  government.  Thus  it  opens  :  "  In  the 
name  of  God,  amen.  We  whose  names  are  under- 
written, having  undertaken  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  do  sol- 
emnly and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and 
of  one  another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves 
together  into  a  civic  body  politic."  God  should 
have  the  first  place  in  civil  government,  and  He  has 
in  the  compact  of  the  Mayflower. 

The  suffering  of  this  little  company  of  exiles  upon 
the  bleak  and  rocky  shore  of  the  Atlantic  beggars 
description.  Sickness  and  hunger  and  cold  and 
perils  from  savages  were  among  the  things  which 
wasted  them.  Still  they  held  on ;  and  when  the 
Mayflower  turned  its  prowEnglandward  once  more, 
not  a  man  went  back.  Half  of  the  colony  died  dur- 
ing the  first  year ;  still  the  rest  kept  up  their  faith 
and  looked  for  a  golden  future.  They  had  to  wait 
long  for  a  harvest,  but  they  accepted  their  scanty 
food,  and  always  felt  that  they  had  reason  for 
thankfulness  to  God.  The  historian  tells  us  that 
Brewster,  the  ruling  elder,  lived  for  many  months 
together  without  bread,  and  frequently  on  fish 
alone.  With  nothing  but  oysters  and  clams  be- 
fore him,  he,  with  his  family,  would  give  thanks 
to  God  that  they  were  permitted  to  enjoy  the 
abundance  of  the  sea  and  the  treasures  hid  in  the 
sands.  But  the  harvests  came  by  and  by,  and  a 
better  future  opened.    Then  began  the  building  of 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  67 

the  church  and  the  building  of  the  school-house 
and  the  building  of  homes.  Then  began  a  life 
which  opened  and  broadened  until  Plymouth  Col- 
ony found  incorporation  in  the  confederation  of  the 
colonies,  and  the  confederation  of  the  colonies 
transformed  itself  into  the  Republic. 

You  will  notice  that  in  telling  this  story  I  have 
kept  upon  a  single  line  of  history:  the  line  of  the 
Pilgrims.  There  is  another  line  of  history,  viz. : 
the  line  of  the  Puritans.  On  that  line  I  purposely 
have  not  run. 

This  suggests  the  question,  What  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans? 
From  what  I  have  presented  you  see  that  the 
Pilgrims  were  separatists.  They  left  the  Church 
of  England ;  they  separated  themselves  from  it 
entirely.  They  had  their  own  churches.  They 
were  exiles  for  religion.  The  Puritans,  on  the 
contrary,  who  thought  very  much  as  the  Pilgrims 
did,  still  continued  in  connection  with  the  Church 
of  England.  They  said,  "  We  will  work  inside 
of  the  church  and  purify  it."  The  Pilgrims  landed 
on  Plymouth  Rock.  The  Puritans  came  later,  and 
settled  on  Massachusetts  Bay  and  elsewhere.  The 
Pilgrims  did  not  persecute.  The  Puritans  did.  It 
was  the  Puritans  who  burned  the  witches  and  exe- 
cuted the  Quakers  and  quarreled  with  the  Baptists. 
In  England  they  even  helped  in  the  persecution  of 
the  Pilgrims,  the  separatists.  The  established 
church  often  used  them  as  spies  among  the  Pil- 


68     MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

grims.  The  Pilgrims  were  broader  minded. 
They  befriended  Roger  Williams  when  the  Puri- 
tans drove  him  out.  Governor  Bradford  of  the 
Plymouth  Colony  even  visited  Roger  Williams  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  and  gave  him  help.  In  Holland 
the  Pilgrims  had  come  into  contact  with  religious 
liberty,  and  had  imbibed  the  spirit  of  that  liberty. 
They  had  grown  into  broad  toleration.  For  Hol- 
land was  the  refuge  not  only  of  exiles  from  Eng- 
land, but  also  from  France  and  from  Scotland. 
The  Pilgrims  met  with  these  refugees  of  other  faiths, 
and  learned  to  love  them.  It  was  this  education 
in  Holland  that  made  them  the  true  liberals  when 
the  federation  which  issued  in  our  Republic  was 
first  formed.  It  was  the  Pilgrim  spirit  that  domi- 
nated this  federation  and  sent  down  to  us  that 
which  is  distinctively  American. 

Having  the  story  of  the  Pilgrims  thus  before 
us,  the  question  meets  us,  What  is  our  duty  in 
reference  to  the  Pilgrims?  There  is  only  one 
answer,  and  that  is  this:  We  should  reproduce 
them  and  perpetuate  their  principles  and  their 
ideal  institutions.  To  do  this  two  things  are  ne- 
cessary. 

I.  If  we  would  reproduce  the  Pilgrims  and  per- 
petuate their  ideal  institutions,  we  must  have  the 
Pilgrims'  loyalty  to  the  Bible.  Where  did  they 
get  their  principles?  From  the  Word  of  God. 
It  was  the  truth  that  made  them  free  men,  and 
God's  Word  is  truth.     It  was  in  the  Bible  that 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  69 

they  found  their  ideal  church.  It  was  in  the  Bible 
that  they  got  their  manner  of  life.  It  was  in  the 
Bible  that  they  got  all  their  principles.  It  was  to 
the  Bible  that  they  went  for  those  deadly  parallel- 
isms which  they  brought  against  everything  that 
was  false. 

They  looked  on  the  Bible  as  an  all-sufficient 
book,  and  they  were  right.  There  is  no  sphere  in 
life  in  which  it  does  not  give  ample  instruction. 
What  about  Miles  Standish  and  his  courtship? 
Some  one  asks,  "  Does  it  teach  anything  on  that 
line?"  Yes.  I  verily  believe  that  Miles  Stand- 
ish, when  he  sent  the  young  and  eloquent  John 
Alden  to  court  and  woo  the  maiden  Priscilla  for 
him,  thought  he  was  thoroughly  biblical,  and  he 
was  biblical  in  a  measure.  He  had  a  Bible  pre- 
cedent. Do  you  not  remember  how  Isaac  got  his 
wife  ?  Abraham  felt  that  the  young  Isaac  was  too 
bashful  to  do  his  own  courting,  so  he  sent  the  old 
and  trusted  household  servant,  Eliezer,  to  do  his 
wooing  for  him.  No  doubt  that  is  where  Miles 
Standish  got  his  idea.  But  why  did  he  fail? 
Because  he  did  not  follow  the  Bible  closely 
enough.  He  did  not  notice  that  when  Abraham 
chose  a  representative  to  do  the  courting  for  his 
son  he  chose  a  very,  very  old  man,  and  not  a 
handsome  young  man.  Had  young  John  Alden 
been  chosen  to  do  Isaac's  courting,  I  am  morally 
certain  that  Isaac  would  have  lost  Rebecca  just 
as  Miles  Jost  Priscilla.     There   is  a  moral  in  the 


70     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

story  of  Miles  Standish,  and  that  is,  if  you  want 
some  things  well  done  you  must  do  them  yourself. 
It  was  in  the  Bible  that  they  got  their  ideas  of 
civil  government  and  civil  liberty,  and  this  I  es- 
pecially wish  to  emphasize.  As  Milton  says, 
"  The  Bible  doth  more  clearly  teach  the  solid 
rules  of  civil  government  than  all  the  eloquence 
of  Greece  or  Rome." 

There  is  no  book  like  this  Book  to  inspire  lib- 
erty. It  has  inspired  all  the  liberty  that  has  found 
incarnation  in  our  national  life.  It  struck  Plym- 
outh Rock,  and  immediately  that  rock  became 
our  American  Horeb  to  send  forth  a  perpetual 
stream  of  blessing.  It  was  the  Bible  that  inspired 
the  heroes  of  '76.  We  all  admire  the  utterance 
of  Patrick  Henry,  which  electrified  the  colonies, 
made  the  Revolutionary  War  a  certainty,  and 
helped  in  the  inauguration  of  the  American  Re- 
public. His  words  thrill  through  the  nation  unto 
this  day:  "Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death." 
But  that  sentiment  was  not  original  with  Patrick 
Henry.  It  was  a  Bible  sentiment.  Solomon 
uttered  it  in  substance.  Two  millenniums  before 
Patrick  Henry's  day,  looking  upon  the  oppressed 
in  the  world,  and  walking  among  the  downtrod- 
den of  humanity,  and  realizing  their  terrible  deg- 
radation, he  said,  "  I  praise  the  dead  who  are 
already  dead,  and  who  have  escaped  human  woe, 
more  than  ye  living,  who  are  thus  miserably  alive," 
i.e.,  "  Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death."     Bible- 


THE    PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS.  71 

loving  men  have  always  been  liberty-loving  men. 
The  Lollards  in  England,  the  adherents  of  Luther 
in  Germany,  the  followers  of  Knox  in  Scotland, 
the  Huguenots  of  France,  the  friends  of  Zwingli  in 
Switzerland,  Cromwell  and  his  Ironsides,  the 
Waldenses  and  the  Albigenses  of  the  Alps — all 
these  were  lovers  of  the  Bible,  and  all  these  were 
heroes  in  liberty's  cause.  The  Pilgrims  breathed 
into  the  American  atmosphere  the  principles  of 
liberty,  and  these  have  gloriously  marched  through 
our  history  ever  since:  first  into  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  then  into  our  national  Constitu- 
tion, and  then  and  finally  into  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  the  crowning  glory  of  the  nation. 
Only  as  we  are  true  to  the  Book  of  the  Pilgrims 
can  we  carry  on  the  Pilgrims'  cause.  The  Queen 
of  England,  when  asked  once  what  was  the  secret 
of  England's  greatness,  pointed  to  the  open  Bible. 
That  which  made  England  has  made  America. 
This  certainly  is  the  truth  which  those  who  de- 
signed the  monument  to  the  Pilgrim  forefathers 
meant  to  teach  posterity. 

On  the  brow  of  the  hill  overlooking  the  bay 
where  the  Mayflower  was  moored,  and  where  the 
waters  continue  to  beat  in  volleying  thunders  or 
in  musical  laughter  upon  its  sand,  they  have  reared 
a  colossal  statue  of  national  significance.  On  the 
four  corners  of  the  pedestal  repose  four  figures 
representing  law,  morality,  freedom,  and  education. 
There    these   should    rest   by  right.     But  above 


72     MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

these  stands  erect  the  gigantic  figure  of  Faith. 
Thirty-six  feet  she  rises  from  the  foot,  which  rests 
upon  a  slate  from  Plymouth  Rock.  With  one 
hand  she  grasps  an  open  Bible,  and  with  the  other 
in  graceful  gesture  she  points  the  nation  up  to 
God.  The  only  book  she  opens  to  the  eyes  of 
the  nation  is  the  Bible.  And  so  it  should  be. 
The  Holy  Word  holds  the  only  true  light  which 
has  led  our  advances  into  any  national  virtue. 

2.  My  final  thought  is  this :  If  we  would  repro- 
duce and  perpetuate  the  principles  and  ideal  in- 
stitutions of  the  Pilgrim  fathers,  we  must  possess 
the  Pilgrims'  character  and  the  Pilgrims'  manhood. 
Manhood  and  character!  These  are  the  things 
above  all  things  which  the  world  admires,  and 
these  are  powers.  The  Pilgrims  were  men — men 
moral  in  fiber,  granite  in  nature.  They  were  man- 
hood's noblest  types.  Manhood !  Nobility  of  life ! 
Nobility  of  thought!  Manhood — manhood  fash- 
ioned into  a  character  which  is  luminous  and  har- 
monious and  self-adjusted  and  perpetual!  What 
is  there  on  earth  beyond  this?  There  is  some- 
thing grand  in  it.  There  is  something  more  than 
grand  in  it;  God  is  in  it;  Christ  is  in  it.  A 
Christian  manhood  is  a  radiant  thing;  it  is  full  of 
majesty  and  sanctity ;  we  never  think  of  it  but  we 
desire  it.  From  the  Pilgrim  fathers  I  learn  this 
lesson:  for  the  furtherance  of  the  cause  of  God 
we  must  have  manhood;  we  must  have  men  as 
well  as  principles ;  we  must  have  character  as  well 


THE  PILGRIM  FOREFATHERS,  73 

as  creed.  There  are  multitudes  of  grand  princi- 
ples and  grand  creeds  in  the  world,  but  they  meet 
with  little  or  no  success,  and  the  reason  is  that 
they  are  not  married  to  men.  They  are  crippled 
and  thrown  into  disrepute  by  the  weak  personality 
of  their  professed  advocates.  You  cannot  make 
heavenly  and  holy  principles  effective  apart  from 
effective  men.  Even  the  Bible  itself  needs  men 
behind  it  in  order  to  produce  reformations  and 
inaugurate  revolutions.  It  is  not  the  Bible  alone 
that  reforms  and  revolutionizes;  it  is  the  Bible 
plus  Zwingli ;  the  Bible  plus  Luther ;  the  Bible 
plus  John  Knox;  the  Bible  plus  John  Calvin;  the 
Bible  plus  Augustine  ;  the  Bible  plus  the  Pilgrims. 
Men  are  to  principles  what  the  cannon  is  to  the 
cannon-ball.  Men  with  no  larger  caliber  than  a 
toy  pistol  cannot  hurl  against  the  fortress  of  the 
foe  principles  which  are  the  size  of  cannon-balls. 
For  the  victory  of  the  truth  we  want  men — men 
with  a  large  caliber  of  faith  and  a  large  caliber  of 
liberality  and  a  large  caliber  of  hope  and  a  large 
caliber  of  enthusiasm. 

One  of  England's  greatest  statesmen  was  asked 
by  a  friend  if  he  thought  a  certain  measure  would 
pass  through  the  Parliament.  His  quick  reply 
was,  "  It  will  not."  His  friend  began  to  dispute 
his  decision,  and  to  forecast,  and  to  reason  with 
him  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  cause.  The 
statesman  replied,  "  I  acknowledge  that  the  cause 
possesses  all  that  you  claim  for  it,  and  I  believe 


74    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

that  it  ought  to  succeed;  but  nevertheless  it  will 
not,  and  the  reason  is  that  it  has  not  the  right  kind 
of  men  as  its  advocates ;  they  have  not  the  char- 
acter and  the  consistency  that  hold  and  sway  the 
respect  and  judgment  of  their  fellow-men."  My 
fellow-men,  essential  as  principles  are,  principles  are 
not  everything.  Principles  and  creeds  of  the  very 
best  type  are  lying  all  around  us  utterly  powerless, 
and  they  are  powerless  because  they  are  divorced 
from  the  right  kind  of  personality  and  the  right 
kind  of  character.  We  owe  the  Bible,  we  owe  the 
church,  we  owe  our  nation,  we  owe  the  cause  of 
liberty,  we  owe  the  Pilgrim  fathers  a  personality 
full  of  love,  and  full  of  sincerity,  and  full  of  stead- 
fastness and  constancy,  and  full  of  self-subjuga- 
tion, and  full  of  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  and  full 
of  faith  and  holy  ambition.  Let  us  band  together 
for  the  payment  of  our  debt. 


III. 

THE    PURITANS. 


75 


III. 

THE    PURITANS.* 

The  American  Republic  is  a  great  way  on  in 
human  history.  Plymouth  Rock  is  a  milestone 
that  speaks  of  centuries  of  imperfection  and  ex- 
periment left  far  behind,  and  that  tells  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  world's  greatest  liberty.  This  is  but 
saying  that  the  American  Republic  is  the  latest 
result  of  the  world's  progress.  It  is  the  flower  of 
which  all  the  rest  of  time  is  the  bud.  This  is  the 
way  all  historians  present  the  American  Republic. 
They  do  not  present  it  as  an  isolated  thing,  but  as 
a  related  thing.  And  this  only  is  true  history ; 
this  only  is  the  way  to  exhibit  the  play  of  principle 
and  the  operation  of  cause  and  effect  in  the  world 
of  human  life.  Only  by  such  a  presentation  can 
we  draw  helpful  conclusions  and  construct  advanced 
plans  for  the  future. 

Do  you  know  how  Motley  speaks  of  the  American 
Republic?     He  says:  "The  American  democracy 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, on  the  Sabbath  evening  prior  to  Forefathers'  day. 

79 


80    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN-  REPUBLIC. 

is  the  result  of  all  that  was  great  in  bygone  times. 
All  led  up  to  it.  It  embodies  all.  Mount  Sinai  is 
in  it,  Greece  is  in  it,  Egypt  is  in  it,  Rome  is  in  it, 
England  is  in  it ;  all  the  arts  are  in  it,  and  all  the 
reformations,  and  all  the  discoveries."  Beginning 
at  the  beginning  of  time,  he  thus  sums  up  the 
march  of  events  which  ends  in  the  American  Re- 
public :  "  Speech,  the  alphabet,  Mount  Sinai,  Egypt, 
Greece,  Rome,  Nazareth,  the  feudal  system,  the 
Magna  Charta,  gunpowder,  the  printing-press,  the 
mariners'  compass,  America." 

The  method  of  Motley  is  the  method  of  John 
Fiske.  He  follows  this  method  in  writing  his 
book,  "The  Beginnings  of  New  England."  He 
traces  the  history  of  nation-making  from  the  be- 
ginning of  time  down  to  the  making  of  our  nation. 
Three  methods  have  been  followed.  There  was 
first  the  Oriental  method  of  nation-making,  viz., 
conquest  without  incorporation.  You  see  this 
method  in  power  away  back  in  the  past,  and  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates.  This 
was  the  method  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria  and 
Egypt.  The  second  method  was  the  Roman 
method,  viz.,  conquest  with  incorporation,  but 
without  representation.  The  third  method  is  the 
English  method,  viz.,  conquest  with  incorporation 
and  representation.  This  method  has  been  worked 
out  into  its  highest  form  upon  our  American  soil. 
This  is  the  method  which  we  are  commissioned 


THE  PURITANS.  81 

still  to  improve  and  to  bring  to  an  ideal  perfec- 
tion. 

This  much  we  have  gained  by  our  present  trend 
of  thought,  viz. :  we  must  know  America's  past  in 
order  fully  to  know  and  appreciate  America's  pres- 
ent; this  is  the  only  way  to  see  the  real,  full,  great 
America  of  to-day. 

Thus  it  is  with  every  nation.  Thus  it  is  with 
England.  What  is  England  ?  The  present  millions 
living  there  to-day?  The  present  government 
ruling  there  to-day?  No.  These  are  not  England 
in  its  entirety.  No.  Let  any  nation  in  Europe 
clash  with  England  in  war,  and  it  will  find  that  it 
strikes  against  the  whole  past  of  England.  Eng- 
land buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  will  rise  and 
live  again,  and  fight  again,  and  nerve  the  arm  and 
give  courage  to  the  heart  of  men  to-day.  That 
nation  will  have  to  fight  old  Cromwell  with  his 
Ironsides,  and  old  Nelson  with  his  fleet,  and  old 
Wellington  with  the  army  that  won  Waterloo.  Past 
England  lives  in  present  England.  Past  America 
forms  part  of  present  America,  and  lives  in  present 
America.  To  use  a  concrete  illustration,  although 
Webster's  body  had  been  in  its  grave  for  almost 
a  generation  before  the  inauguration  of  our  Civil 
War,  yet  Webster's  spirit  was  in  that  war  from 
Bull  Run  to  Appomattox.  Webster  was  the  first 
American  to  teach  America  her  own  greatness  and 
the  power  of  the  federal  government ;  and  Web- 


82     MAKERS  OF  TFE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ster's  arguments  were  behind  every  bayonet,  and 
were  carried  home  by  every  cannon-shot,  in  the 
war  for  the  American  Union. 

If  what  I  have  said  concerning  the  relation  be- 
tween the  past  and  the  present  be  true,  two  things 
follow  as  a  duty  which  posterity  should  perform : 
first,  posterity  must  study  history;  and  second, 
posterity  must  honor  the  past  with  suitable  me- 
morials. Does  any  one  say,  "  I  have  no  taste  for 
history;  it  is  only  the  stale  story  of  every  day's 
doings"?  Believe  me,  history  may  be  made  a 
delight  as  well  as  a  benefit.  The  way  history  is 
written  in  this  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury makes  it  a  delight.  The  golden  threads  of 
romance  are  so  woven  into  the  sober  russet  of 
every  day's  doings  that  if  you  hold  it  up  in  the 
true  light  it  will  glow  and  glitter  as  brilliantly  as 
though  the  hand  of  an  enchanter  had  wrought  it 
out  of  golden  tissue,  and  constructed  it  into  a  robe 
for  holiday  attire.  Does  any  one  say,  "  I  do  not 
see  any  value  in  memorials  "  ?  Believe  me,  you  do 
not  inherit  this  faith  from  your  civil  fathers.  What 
means  the  Bunker  Hill  monument?  What  means 
the  Washington  obelisk  in  the  capital  of  the  United 
States  ?  What  means  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  great 
monumental  day  of  the  nation  ?  What  means  Fore- 
fathers' day,  which  comes  to  us  every  year?  Dan- 
iel Webster  closed  his  oration  at  the  dedication 
of  the  Bunker  Hill  monument  with  these  words : 


THE  PURITANS.  83 

"  That  motionless  shaft  will  be  the  most  powerful 
of  speakers.  Its  speech  will  be  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious liberty.  It  will  speak  of  patriotism  and  of 
courage.  It  will  speak  of  the  moral  improvement 
and  elevation  of  mankind.  Decrepit  age  leaning 
against  its  base,  and  ingenuous  youth  gathering 
around  it,  will  speak  to  one  another  of  the  glorious 
events  with  which  it  is  connected,  and  will  ex- 
claim, 'Thank  God,  I  am  an  American!''  The 
words  of  Webster  have  been  verified.  He  whose 
love  of  country  is  not  kindled  by  standing  upon 
Bunker  Hill  is  not  worthy  of  his  country  and  pos- 
sesses but  the  minimum  of  patriotism.  His  only 
due  is  expatriation. 

We  have  not  made  ourselves  nationally ;  we 
have  been  made.  We  are  an  evolution,  and  grati- 
tude is  our  becoming  attitude.  We  did  not  dig 
up  the  first  precious  gold ;  we  did  not  first  unlock 
the  secrets  of  philosophy ;  we  were  not  the  first  to 
give  tone  to  the  moral  sense ;  we  did  not  first  think 
the  Republic  into  being.  I  can  hear  the  drum- 
beat of  the  American  Revolution  as  far  back  as 
the  seventeenth  century.  We  were  not  the  first 
to  think  of  the  welfare  of  the  masses  or  to  assert 
the  rights  of  the  individual.  We  are  not  half  so 
wise  as  we  take  ourselves  to  be.  Back  of  our  new 
machinery,  and  our  new  processes  of  industry,  and 
our  better  homes,  and  our  improved  furniture,  and 
our  finer  clothes,  and  our  easier  methods  of  loco- 


84     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

motion,  and  our  increased  facilities  of  exchange  of 
thought,  are  the  old  slow-crawling,  worm-moving 
ages.  We  have  received  our  inheritance  as  a  be- 
queathment  from  the  fathers,  and  it  is  our  duty  to 
make  acknowledgment  of  our  indebtedness  and 
celebrate  the  reign  of  God  in  their  lives.  This  we 
can  do  by  observing  a  memorial  day  in  honor  of 
their  fidelity. 

A  memorial  day  is  a  holy  page  from  the  book 
of  God's  providence,  and  on  that  page  there  glows 
the  very  same  truth  that  glows  upon  the  page  of 
the  Holy  Bible.  The  study  of  the  lives  of  the 
makers  of  our  nation  is  not  necessarily  a  secular 
study  ;  it  may  be  and  it  should  be  a  religious  study. 
Our  fathers  came  here  and  built  here  largely,  if 
not  solely,  in  the  interest  of  religion.  This  was  so 
with  the  Huguenots,  and  the  Hollanders,  and  the 
Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  and  the  Quakers  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  Covenanters  of  the  Carolinas,  and 
the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  of  Massachusetts.  This 
we  will  find  as  we  study  the  separate  history  of 
these  makers  of  America.  Besides  all  this,  we 
believe  that  the  American  Republic  is  the  creation 
of  God,  and  has  a  grand  commission  from  Him  to 
work  out  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  Now, 
the  study  of  the  Republic  as  a  creation  of  God 
is  a  religious  exercise. 

One  thing  is  before  us  this  evening  as  we  cele- 
brate Forefathers'  day,  and  that  is  the  play  of  the 


THE  PURITANS.  85 

Puritan  influence  in  the  making  of  the  American 
Republic. 

On  the  evening  of  last  Forefathers'  day  we 
studied  together  the  history  of  the  Pilgrim ;  now 
we  are  to  study  together  the  history  of  the  Puri- 
tan. Then  there  is  a  difference  between  the  Pil- 
grims and  the  Puritans?  Certainly.  If  we  were 
living  in  Boston  and  failed  to  make  a  distinction 
we  should  never  be  forgiven. 

Let  us  here  and  now  set  before  our  mind  the 
distinction  between  them.  Henry  VIII.,  King  of 
England,  threw  off  his  allegiance  to  the  Roman 
pontiff  and  constituted  himself  head  of  the  church 
in  his  own  land.  His  motives  were  bad,  but  God 
overruled  the  step  which  he  took  and  made  it  a 
starting-point  of  great  good  to  England  and  to  all 
the  world.  The  reason  he  broke  with  the  pontiff 
was,  the  pontiff  refused  to  divorce  him  from  the 
queen,  his  lawful  wife.  Separated  from  papacy  it 
was  not  possible  for  England  to  remain  Catholic. 
The  consequence  was  the  establishment  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

But  when  the  English  church  was  established  it 
was  found  that  all  in  this  church  were  not  of  one 
mind.  There  were  advanced  thinkers  who  wanted 
more  liberty  and  who  hated  oppression  in  a  prel- 
ate just  as  much  as  they  hated  oppression  in  a 
pope.  Where  did  these  dissatisfied  men  come 
from?    Where  did  they  get  their  advanced  ideas? 


86     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

The  answer  of  that  question  is  a  history  in  itself. 
They  were  the  spiritual  descendants  of  Wy cliff e 
and  of  the  Lollards.  Wycliffe  and  the  Lollards 
got  their  ideas  and  principles  from  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. Wycliffe  translated  the  Bible  for  the  peo- 
ple, and  thus  set  the  cause  of  liberty  in  England  in 
motion.  Henry  VIII.  lived  in  the  time  of  Martin 
Luther,  and  wrote  against  him.  He  did  not  want 
England  to  become  Protestant,  but  he  could  not 
help  it.  The  accumulated  power  of  Wycliffe's 
Bible  was  irresistible  and  gave  rise  to  the  Puritans 
whom  the  king  found  in  his  church.  From  this 
you  see  that  there  were  forerunners  of  the  Puritans 
long  before  the  time  of  Luther.  There  were  scat- 
tered voices  all  through  Europe,  like  the  early- 
awakening  birds  of  the  morning  preluding  the  full 
choir  of  the  noontide  day.  There  was  a  growing 
cry  rolling  across  Europe,  and  that  cry,  which 
rang  from  Wycliffe  to  Savonarola,  from  John  Huss 
and  Jerome  of  Prague  to  Zwingli  and  Erasmus — 
that  cry,  which  swept  from  the  Alpine  glaciers  to 
the  fiords  of  Norway,  and  which  broke  from  the 
lips  of  Luther  like  a  peal  of  thunder — that  cry 
was  a  cry  demanding  reform. 

I  cannot  here  detail  the  conduct  of  the  Church  of 
England.  It  became  oppressive.  The  church  would 
not  listen  to  those  who  asked  for  reform.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  subjected  them  to  cruel  persecution.  But 
persecution  has  never  put  down  any  cause  of  God ; 


THE  PURITANS.  87 

it  has  always  strengthened  it  and  has  always  drawn 
sympathy  to  it.  This  proved  true  here.  In  pro- 
portion as  prelacy  grew  Puritanism  grew.  The 
claim  of  the  prelates  ran  higher  and  higher  through 
Parker,  Whitgift,  and  Bancroft,  until  it  culminated 
in  Laud  ;  but  the  resistance  of  the  Puritans  became 
stouter  and  stouter  through  Hooper,  Cartwright, 
and  Bradshaw,  until  it  culminated  in  the  West- 
minster divines. 

After  Henry  VIII.  came  Edward  VI.,  and  after 
him  Bloody  Mary.  Queen  Mary  took  the  Church 
of  England  back  into  allegiance  to  Rome.  Under 
her  persecutions  many  of  the  Puritans  fled  to 
Switzerland — a  land  where  the  people  were  as  free 
as  the  singing  waterfalls,  the  land  of  William  Tell 
and  of  the  reformer  Zwingli,  the  land  where  Cal- 
vin made  his  home  and  taught  his  system.  Here 
they  met  with  Calvin  and  drank  Calvinism  from 
the  fountain.  Every  Alpine  canton  was  a  repub- 
lican community.  So  here  these  exiles  of  God 
drank  in  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

Mary  was  followed  by  her  sister  Elizabeth,  Eng- 
land's famous  queen,  and  in  her  reign  the  Puritans 
who  had  fled  to  Switzerland  returned.  She  again 
broke  the  yoke  of  Rome ;  she  established  the 
Church  of  England  by  law.  In  her  efforts  to  make 
the  Church  of  England  all  in  all,  she  declared  that 
all  her  subjects  should  think  alike,  and  worship 
alike,  and   conform   to   the   ritual  of  the  English 


88     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

church.  She  determined  by  sheer  brute  force  to 
create  religious  uniformity.  The  thing  was  an  ab- 
surdity. Until  God  unmakes  us,  and  then  makes 
us  over  again,  religious  uniformity  will  remain  an 
eternal  impossibility. 

Just  here  the  Pilgrims  come  in.  They  rebelled 
out  and  out  against  the  policy  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  separated  themselves  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  formed  churches  of  their  own.  Of  course 
they  were  persecuted.  This  led  to  the  emigration 
of  a  company  of  them  to  Holland,  from  whence,  in 
the  course  of  time,  they  sailed  to  America,  landing 
on  the  famous  Plymouth  Rock  December  21,  1620, 
and  forming  the  famous  Plymouth  Colony. 

The  Pilgrims  were  separatists.  The  Puritans  were 
not.  They  were  only  nonconformists,  and  as  non- 
conformists they  remained  in  the  Church  of  England 
in  hopes  that  in  due  time  they  might  reform  that 
church  and  mold  it  to  their  ideal.  The  Puritans 
were  still  in  England  while  the  Pilgrims  were  in 
America  building  up  their  new  colony.  They  re- 
mained there  until  the  year  1628.  This  was  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Charles  I.  The  usurpations  of 
this  king  made  them  restless,  and,  hearing  of  the 
success  of  the  colony  of  Pilgrims  in  America,  they 
determined  to  emigrate.  In  very  many  cases  they 
were  led  by  their  ministers,  and  the  plans  for  emi- 
gration were  often  formed  by  these.  It  was  during 
this  year  that  Salem  was  settled  by  John  Endicott 


THE  PURITANS.  89 

and  his  company.  Now  began  what  is  known  in 
American  history  as  "  the  Puritan  exodus."  This 
lasted  for  eleven  years,  from  1629  to  1640,  i.e., 
during  the  time  that  Charles  I.  arbitrarily  governed 
England  without  a  Parliament;  1640  was  the  year 
in  which  the  Long  Parliament  began  which  ushered 
in  the  wonderful  times  of  Cromwell.  Cromwell's 
time  gave  the  Puritans  of  England  something  to 
do  in  their  own  land,  and  hence  emigration  ceased. 
Their  mission  then  was  to  rally  around  Cromwell 
and  Pym  and  Hampden  and  Milton,  and  assert*the 
rights  of  the  people  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
crown. 

It  was  during  the  period  of  the  exodus  that 
John  Winthrop,  the  first  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, came  to  America.  It  was  then  that  Bos- 
ton and  Cambridge  and  Watertown  and  Roxbury 
and  Dorchester  were  settled.  All  were  separate 
communities.  It  was  during  this  period  that 
Roger  Williams  settled  in  Rhode  Island,  and  that 
Davenport  came  with  his  company  from  England 
and  settled  in  New  Haven,  and  that  Thomas  Hooker, 
wanting  more  liberty,  migrated  from  the  Charles 
River  with  a  hundred  of  his  congregation,  and  went 
to  Hartford.  It  was  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  under 
Hooker's  inspiration,  that  the  first  American  con- 
stitution which  issued  in  a  distinct  government  was 
framed.  Thomas  Hooker  deserves  more  than  any 
other  man  to  be  called  an  American  father.     The 


90     MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

government  of  the  United  States  of  to-day  is  in 
lineai  descent  more  nearly  related  to  that  consti- 
tution of  Connecticut  than  to  the  constitution  of 
any  of  the  other  thirteen  colonies.  .  It  was  during 
this  period  that  Harvard  College  was  founded,  and 
also  Yale,  and  that  the  free  public  schools  were 
planted.  Away  back  here  began  also  the  oppres- 
sive enactments  of  England  with  respect  to  trade. 
As  England's  laws  oppressing  the  people  of  the 
colonies  could  not  execute  themselves,  away  back 
here  began  the  spirit  of  rebellion  against  England 
which  culminated  in  the  American  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

When  the  Puritan  exodus  ceased  there  were  in 
New  England  twenty-six  thousand  Puritans.  The 
Pilgrims  of  Plymouth  Rock  were  the  small  minor- 
ity ;  but  that  mattered  little,  for  now  in  America 
all  the  Puritans  equally  with  the  Pilgrims  were 
separatists.  They  all  adopted  the  independent 
form  of  church  government ;  they  were  all  here 
for  the  advancement  of  religion ;  they  wrere  all 
striving  to  work  the  Bible  out  in  every-day  life. 
The  Pilgrims  largely  believed  in  the  separation  of 
church  and  state ;  the  Puritans  believed  in  a  the- 
ocracy which  made  both  church  and  state  identical. 
Hence  the  condition  of  suffrage  with  the  Puritans 
was  church-membership.  Thus  it  was  at  first,  but 
by  and  by  suffrage  was  enlarged  so  as  to  take  in 
those  who  were  baptized,  though  not  church-mem- 


THE  PURITANS.  91 

bers.     This  was  called  the  "half-way  covenant." 
Finally  all  religious  tests  were  abolished. 

For  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  Puri- 
tan exodus,  i.e.,  from  1640  to  1790,  New  England 
received  very  few  by  means  of  immigration.  Its 
increase  came  from  its  own  families ;  it  enjoyed  a 
remarkable  seclusion.  There  were  only  three  ex- 
ceptions to  this.  In  1652,  after  his  victory  at  Dun- 
bar and  Worcester,  Cromwell  sent  two  hundred 
and  seventy  Scotch  prisoners  to  Boston  as  a  pun- 
ishment. They  grandly  bore  the  punishment ;  they 
rather  liked  it,  I  imagine,  for  their  descendants  are 
there  to  this  day.  In  1685,  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  one  hundred  and  fifty  fam- 
ilies of  the  Huguenots  came  to  Massachusetts; 
their  names  are  perpetuated  in  Bowdoin  College 
and  Faneuil  Hall.  In  1  7 19  several  Presbyterian 
families  from  the  north  of  Ireland  settled  in  New 
Hampshire  ;  their  descendants  are  still  in  that  State. 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  marks  their  settlement.  These 
were  the  three  exceptions,  and  they  were  very 
small.  When  the  hour  of  the  Revolution  struck, 
there  was  no  county  in  old  England  itself  that  had 
a  purer  English  blood  than  New  England.  The 
homogeneity  of  population  accounts  for  the  one- 
ness of  belief  and  action  in  New  England  in  the 
matter  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  people 
of  New  England  were  one  people,  and  they  struck 
like  a  trip-hammer  when  they  struck.      It  was  this 


92     MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

unity  and  homogeneity  which  made  them  the 
power  they  were  in  the  formation  of  the  American 
Republic,  and  which  helped  New  England  to  stamp 
itself  upon  the  whole  country  for  the  country's 
good. 

It  was  only  after  the  American  Revolution  that 
New-Englanders  began  to  move  into  the  western 
part  of  our  land  and  there  form  new  States;  but 
this  they  did  so  effectively  that  there  is  a  Portland 
to-day  on  the  Pacific  as  well  as  a  Portland  on  the 
Atlantic.  They  now  number  one  fourth  of  the 
entire  population  of  our  sixty  millions,  and  are  a 
beneficial  force  in  every  State  in  the  Union. 

While  the  Puritans  were  diligent  in  building  up 
New  England,  let  no  one  suppose  that  they  were 
indifferent  to  what  was  going  forward  in  the  mother- 
land ;  they  were  one  with  the  progressives  there. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  English  Revolution  vir- 
tually began  in  Boston,  where  Sir  Edmund  An- 
dros,  King  James's  representative,  was  arrested 
and  put  in  prison.  New  England  was  the  first 
to  hail  the  enthronement  of  William,  Prince  of 
Orange.  During  the  Cromwellian  conflict  Crom- 
well's strongest  friends  were  in  New  England. 
The  pen  of  New  England,  fertilized  by  freedom, 
became  marvelously  prolific.  Cromwell,  Hampden, 
Sidney,  Milton,  Owen,  were  scholars  of  teachers 
mostly  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Professor 
Masson,  of  Edinburgh  University,  in  his  biography 


THE  PURITANS.  93 

of  Milton  names  seventeen  New  England  men 
whom  he  describes  as  potent  in  England  during  the 
days  of  the  Commonwealth.  Numbers  went  back 
to  England  in  person  to  join  Cromwell's  Ironsides. 
Twelve  of  the  first  twenty  graduates  of  Harvard 
prior  to  1646  were  among  the  New-Englanders 
who  were  with  Cromwell  on  the  fields  of  Marston 
Moor  and  Naseby. 

New  England  served  the  liberal-minded  of  old 
England  by  opening  to  them  sheltering  arms  in  the 
hour  of  their  peril.  We  have  a  striking  instance 
on  this  line  in  the  welcome  given  to  two  of  the  men 
who  sat  as  judges  and  pronounced  the  sentence 
of  death  on  King  Charles  I.  Their  names  were 
Edward  Whalley  and  William  Goffe.  Charles  II., 
determined  to  destroy  his  father's  murderers,  as  he 
called  them,  ordered  their  arrest  and  transportation 
to  England;  but  the  New-Englanders  protected 
them,  and  baffled  the  king's  detectives,  and  saved 
them  from  the  fury  of  Charles.  This  romantic 
story  is  told  of  Goffe,  showing  his  appreciation  of 
the  protection  given  him.  At  Hadley  the  savages, 
during  King  Philip's  War,  made  an  attack  upon 
the  villagers.  The  inhabitants  were  at  church  keep- 
ing a  fast  when  the  yells  of  the  Indians  resounded. 
Seizing  their  guns,  the  men  rushed  out  to  meet  the 
foe,  but  seeing  the  village  green  swarming  with  the 
horrid  savages,  for  a  moment  their  courage  gave 
way  and  a  panic  was  imminent.     All  at  once  a 


94    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

stranger  of  reverent  mien  and  stately  form,  and 
with  white  flowing  beard  falling  on  his  bosom,  ap- 
peared among  them  and  took  command  with  an 
air  of  authority  which  none  could  gainsay.  He 
bade  them  charge  on  the  screeching  rabble,  and 
after  a  sharp,  short  skirmish  the  tawny  foe  was  put 
to  flight.  When  the  pursuers  came  together  again 
after  the  rout  their  deliverer  was  not  to  be  found. 
In  their  wonder,  as  they  knew  not  whence  he  came 
or  whither  he  went,  many  were  heard  to  say  that 
an  angel  had  been  sent  from  heaven  for  their  de- 
liverance. It  was  the  fugitive,  William  Goffe,  a 
major-general  of  Cromwell's  army,  who  from  his 
hiding-place  had  seen  the  savages  stealing  down 
the  hillside,  and  who  came  forth  for  one  more  vic- 
tory ere  death  came  to  take  him  from  his  wilder- 
ness retreat.  The  Puritans  harbored  this  political 
refugee,  and  this  refugee  saved  the  lives  of  the 
Puritans. 

In  giving  this  brief  history  of  the  Puritans  in 
the  favorable  form  in  which  I  give  it,  I  am  not 
ignorant  of  the  antipathy  which  prevails  in  a  large 
area  against  the  Puritans.  The  term  "  puritanical  " 
is  a  term  that  carries  in  it  to-day  a  slur  and  a  sneer ; 
but  I  am  one  who  believes  that  the  slur  and  the  sneer 
are  a  slander.  The  Puritans  have  left  too  grand  a 
work  behind  them  to  be  written  down ;  the  great 
Republic  is  still  too  much  Puritan  in  its  make-up 
to  allow  gross  slanders  to  live. 


THE  PURITANS.  95 

True  history  is  more  and  more  taking  the  place 
of  caricature  in  dealing  with  these  fathers.  It  is 
sometimes  said,  "  The  Puritans  stand  for  all  that 
is  austere  and  intolerant  and  somber  and  crooked 
and  ungainly  and  unattractive  and  bitter  and  dog- 
matic and  sour."  It  is  said  also  that  the  Puritan 
protesting  against  the  pope  is  himself  in  his  peaked 
hat  a  worse  pope  than  the  Italian  who  wears  the 
triple  crown.  He  is  called  a  fanatic,  but  let  no  one 
be  frightened  by  that  word ;  fanaticism  is  simply 
a  mighty  grip  upon  a  mighty  idea.  It  was  the 
fanaticism  of  Columbus  that  discovered  America; 
it  was  the  fanaticism  of  Luther  that  gave  the  world 
the  Reformation.  You  cannot  sneer  the  Puritan 
down.  Macaulay  says :  "  No  one  sneered  at  the 
Puritan  who  had  met  him  in  the  halls  of  debate, 
or  crossed  swords  with  him  on  the  battle-fields." 
The  Puritans  are  often  laughed  at  as  those  who 
delighted  to  sing  psalms  through  their  noses.  This 
is  a  fling  at  Cromwell's  Ironsides.  Well,  Crom- 
well's Ironsides  used  to  go  to  battle  singing  psalms 
through  their  noses,  but  they  sang  through  their 
noses  to  some  purpose.  If  other  battalions  can 
sing  through  their  noses  with  a  like  effect,  I  ad- 
vise their  singing.  There  never  was  a  troop  of 
men  on  earth  whose  footfalls  carried  such  courage 
and  power  as  Cromwell's  Ironsides.  The  story  of 
their  battles  is  the  romance  of  history ;  it  has  a 
power  to  thrill  which  even  the  heroism  of  the  nine- 


96     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

teenth  century  cannot  exceed.  The  sparks  flew 
from  their  swords  like  the  flashes  from  a  surcharged 
cloud ;  their  ringing  saber-strokes  still  echo  in  his- 
tory. 

The  Puritan's  lack  of  the  esthetic  has  been  criti- 
cized. In  this  he  has  been  called  narrow,  and  he 
was  narrow.  He  was  not  in  full  communion  with 
God  here.  God  delights  in  the  esthetic  ;  His  mind 
teems  with  beauty ;  and  wherever  in  creation  Fie 
has  an  opportunity  He  scatters  beauty  broadcast. 
"  He  lines  the  tiny  seashell  with  lines  of  beauty,  and 
tints  the  scales  of  the  fish,  and  tones  the  hidden 
fibers  of  the  trees,  and  flashes  beauty  on  breast 
and  crest  of  flying  birds,  and  causes  it  to  break  in 
the  tumbling  avalanche  into  myriads  of  feathery 
crystals,  and  builds  the  skies  into  a  splendor  which 
neither  words  nor  colors  can  paint."  But  the  Puri- 
tan's lack  here  can  be  explained  ;  there  was  a  cause. 
Beauty  itself,  painting,  music,  sculpture,  all  the  fine 
arts,  belonged  in  the  Puritans'  day  to  the  oppressors 
of  the  Puritans.  Those  things  had  been  so  long 
a  time  in  Egypt  that  to  the  Puritans  they  were 
Egyptian ;  they  were  redolent  of  oppression ;  so 
the  Puritans  simply  put  them  in  quarantine  until 
the  plague  was  out  of  their  garments,  and  then 
they  would  be  allowed  to  come  back  again.  They 
are  coming  back. 

But  what  have  we  to  say  concerning  their  treat- 
ment of  the  witches  and  of  Roger  Williams?    We 


THE  PURITANS.  97 

have  this  to  say :  that  even  in  the  harsh  measures, 
as  they  dealt  with  these,  they  were  the  progressives 
of  their  age,  and  were  the  most  merciful  people  of 
that  century. 

With  regard  to  the  witches,  you  can  count  all 
that  were  burned  upon  your  fingers,  while  through- 
out the  nations  of  Europe  they  were  burned  by 
the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands.  With  regard 
to  Roger  Williams,  he  is  able  to  take  care  of  him- 
self. There  is  altogether  too  much  made  of  his 
affair.  He  was  not  hurt  much,  if  hurt  at  all.  I 
have  only  this  to  say  of  Roger  Williams  :  if  he  came 
into  our  day  with  his  broad,  open-communion  views, 
he  would  have  as  tough  a  time  among  his  own  chil- 
dren, the  close-communion  Baptists,  as  he  ever  had 
among  the  Puritans.  It  is  a  picture — it  is  nothing 
short  of  a  lively  scene — to  think  of  Roger  Williams 
in  the  Baptist  Church  of  America  to-day.  His 
battle-ax  would  make  splinters  of  every  human 
barrier  which  barricades  the  Lord's  table  as  found 
in  that  sect. 

In  our  criticism  we  forget  to  put  the  Puritans 
back  in  the  seventeenth  century.  This  only  is  jus- 
tice. They  must  be  judged  by  the  day  in  which 
they  lived.  They  were  progressive  men  .  in  that 
day,  and  if  they  were  living  they  would  be  pro- 
gressive men  in  our  day.  John  Endicott  and 
John  Winthrop  and  Cotton  Mather,  were  they 
living  to-day,  would   be   civil-service   reformers, 


98     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Prohibitionists,  and  full-fledged  women's  rights 
men. 

We  have  reached  an  age  when  there  is  light 
enough  to  see  the  Puritan  in  his  true  character,  as 
a  royal  man  of  God  and  a  noble  leader  of  men.  If 
the  word  "  mugwump  "  had  not  been  tossed  about 
in  these  latter  days  until  it  has  become  defaced  and 
soiled,  I  would  say  he  was  a  magnificent  "  mug- 
wump." The  word  "  mugwump  "  belongs  to  him. 
It  is  found  in  John  Eliot's  translation  of  the  Bible 
for  the  Indians.  It  means  a  great  chief.  Eliot 
uses  it  in  setting  forth  Joshua,  Gideon,  and  Joab. 
These  Bible  heroes  were  "mugwumps";  this  is 
where  modern  politicians  get  the  word. 

Let  us  look  at  the  characteristics  of  the  Puritan! 
He  was  a  man  of  God  ;  this  was  his  starting-point. 
God  was  with  him  in  everything  he  did ;  this  was 
his  constant  consciousness.  Listen  to  an  extract 
from  one  of  the  Puritan  New  England  writers  in 
confirmation  of  this:  "  Strike  the  Lord's  cymbals! 
blow  the  silver  trumpet !  set  the  battle  in  array ! 
For  the  Lord  is  with  us.  He  is  not  an  idle  spec- 
tator, but  an  actor  in  all  action  to  bring  down  His 
and  our  enemies.  He  orders  every  shaft  that  flies, 
and  leads  each  bullet  to  its  resting-place,  to  the 
wound  it  makes."  This  consciousness  of  God's 
presence  made  the  Puritan  self-sufficient  in  God, 
and  gave  him  his  persistency  and  courage. 

He  was  a  man  of  one  book,  and  that  book  was 


THE  PURITANS.  99 

the  Bible.  The  Century  Company  have  not  made 
a  mistake  in  their  design  of  the  statue  of  the  Puri- 
tan. They  represent  him  as  a  rugged  man  with 
flowing  cloak  and  peaked  hat,  and  with  a  large 
copy  of  the  Bible  under  his  arm.  In  reading  his 
Bible  he  delighted  in  the  Apocalypse  with  its  wild 
and  stirring  grandeur,  but  he  was  especially  a  stu- 
dent of  the  Old  Testament.  Moses  constructing 
a  nation  and  giving  laws  was  his  favorite ;  and  he 
often  opened  the  Book  of  Joshua  to  listen  to  Joshua 
as  he  whets  his  sword  on  the  tables  of  stone,  and 
cuts  his  way  through  the  nations  of  the  Canaanites. 
The  Puritan  was  the  Old  Testament  hero  reproduced. 
He  was  a  man  of  principles.  "  Righteousness" 
was  the  great  word  in  his  life,  and  the  great  white 
throne  was  to  him  the  most  real  of  all  realities. 
That  built  ethics  into  his  nature  and  made  him 
swift  to  render  obedience  to  the  voice  of  con- 
science. He  was  a  lover  of  knowledge,  and  this 
led  him  to  found  schools  and  build  colleges.  So 
long  as  the  Puritans'  enthusiasm  for  education  lives, 
just  so  long  will  Harvard  and  Yale  be  multiplied 
in  our  Republic.  He  was  a  man  of  religion,  and 
because  of  that  he  has  sent  down  to  us  the  spirit 
which  has  built  the  churches  that  bless  the  land. 
The  Old  South  Church  of  Boston  comes  direct 
from  his  hand.  He  was  a  man  of  large  hopes,  so 
he  inaugurated  large  enterprises.  He  was  a  dar- 
ing optimist;   his  creed  was,  "Every  good  thing 


100    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

that  is  possible  shall  some  day  become  real."  That 
is  a  grand  creed  for  any  age.  He  believed  that 
obedience  to  conscience,  as  the  voice  of  God, 
should  be  the  rule  of  conduct  for  the  state  as  well 
as  for  the  individual  man ;  hence  he  sought  to  make 
the  state  a  theocracy. 

The  motto  of  Daniel  O'Connell  was  his  motto, 
viz.  :  "  Nothing  is  politically  right  that  is  morally 
wrong."  He  was  a  growing,  progressive  man; 
hence  the  outcome  of  his  religious  life  was  this : 
coexistence,  toleration,  forbearance,  mutual  respect 
among  the  different  churches  of  Christ,  the  one 
Lord  and  Master.  Take  him  for  all  in  all,  and  I 
choose  the  Puritan.  He  is  my  choice  after  a  thor- 
ough sifting  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  I  choose 
him  a  hundred  times  over  in  preference  to  the 
Cavalier,  who  was  his  rival  and  his  despiser.  Chiv- 
alry refined  manners;  Puritanism  created  manli- 
ness and  fortified  the  soul  in  virtue.  Chivalry 
feared  dishonor;  Puritanism  feared  to  do  evil. 
Chivalry  adorned  life ;  Puritanism  enriched  life 
with  conscience  and  duty  and  God.  Chivalry 
taught  a  man  to  die  for  a  lady's  glove,  a  stolen 
kiss,  a  fancied  slight ;  Puritanism  taught  a  man  to 
die  for  human  rights,  for  justice,  for  freedom,  for 
truth.  I  choose  the  man  who  represents  Puritan- 
ism, and  him  my  whole  being  honors  and  blesses. 

His  character  is  the  one  character  and  his  power 
is  the  one  power  I  wish  to  perpetuate  in  the  life 
and  in  the  progress  of  my  nation.     How  can  I 


THE  PURITANS.  101 

best  perpetuate  his  character  and  his  power?  By 
giving  myself  up  to  the  cultivation  of  his  spirit, 
and  by  taking  a  front  rank  in  my  age  as  he  took 
a  front  rank  in  his  age ;  by  making  a  man  out  of 
myself  and  giving  a  God- filled  manhood  to  my 
country.  It  is  as  Humboldt  says:  "  Government, 
religion,  property,  books,  are  nothing  but  the  scaf- 
folding to  build  man.  Earth  holds  up  to  her  Maker 
no  fruit  like  the  finished  man."  The  citizen  gives 
to  his  country  no  gift  like  the  gift  of  a  Christian 
manhood.  I  must  give  my  country  an  ideal  re- 
incarnated Puritan.  If  I  give  my  country  that, 
then  with  that  I  shall  give  it  God,  the  one  living 
and  true  God ;  the  Bible,  His  law  for  nations ;  an 
enlightened  and  living  conscience,  i.e.,  the  power 
and  willingness  to  respond  to  God's  law;  institu- 
tions instinct  with  righteousness  and  truth.  These 
things  will  make  the  Republic  great;  they  will 
make  its  institutions  perpetual,  and  they  will  make 
its  army  invincible.  There  are  no  regiments  like 
Cromwell's  Ironsides,  where  bayonets  can  think 
and  pray,  and  where  the  highest  spiritual  qualities 
have  been  drilled  into  the  ranks.  Men  of  ideas, 
of  holy  passions,  of  genius,  of  enthusiasm,  of  faith 
in  God,  of  righteousness,  of  spiritual  personalities, 
of  high  ideals,  these  are  the  strength  and  the 
defense  of  any  nation.  Such  are  the  men  our 
Republic  is  searching  for  among  her  citizens ;  the 
Republic  wants  nineteenth-century  Puritans — Pu- 
ritans refined  and  idealized. 


IV. 

THE   HOLLANDERS. 


103 


IV. 

THE    HOLLANDERS.* 

Paul,  the  chief  of  the  apostles,  upon  an  impor- 
tant occasion,  in  depicting  the  glories  of  the  Hebrew 
nation,  climaxed  his  description  with  these  words : 
"  Whose  are  the  fathers."  He  felt  just  as  we  feel 
when  we  give  ourselves  to  the  celebration  of  Fore- 
fathers' day.  He  pointed  to  Abraham,  the  father 
of  the  faithful,  who  pioneered  for  the  coming  gen- 
erations and  found  them  a  territory ;  and  to  Solo- 
mon, the  wise,  who  filled  the  territory  with  cities 
and  wonderfully  increased  the  wealth  of  the  land  ; 
and  to  Moses,  the  lawgiver,  who  gave  the  nation 
a  magnificent  code;  and  to  Elijah,  the  reformer, 
who  brought  the  nation  back  into  true  allegiance 
to  God ;  and  to  David,  the  poet,  who  put  soul- 
stirring  patriotism  into  the  national  songs ;  and  to 
Isaiah,  the  prophet,  who  saw  thrilling  visions  for 
the  kingdom  and  who  proclaimed  the  coming  of 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn, 
at  a  Forefathers'-day  service. 

107 


108    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  golden  age.  He  pointed  to  these  and  said, 
"Ours  are  the  fathers."  He  catalogued  "the 
fathers"  as  among  the  chief  blessings  of  the  na- 
tion. He  said  in  effect,  "  Men,  grand  men,  men 
of  enterprise,  men  of  holy  optimism,  men  of  faith, 
men  in  oneness  with  God — these  are  God's  best 
gifts  to  a  nation,  and  these  in  their  grandeur  and 
goodness  are  worthy  to  be  catalogued  with  Mount 
Sinai  and  with  Calvary,  for  they  carry  in  their  per- 
sonalities and  in  their  feelings  and  in  their  princi- 
ples and  in  their  characters  all — all  that  is  con- 
tained in  the  law  and  the  gospel,  and  all  that  Sinai 
and  Calvary  stand  for." 

Fellow-Americans,  we  have  come  together  to- 
night to  say  the  one  to  the  other,  "  Ours  are  the 
fatliers"  and  to  recall  together  the  words  and  the 
conflicts  and  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  men  who 
made  America  what  we  find  it.  We  have  our  his- 
tory ;  we  have  American  men  and  women  ;  we  have 
our  authors,  our  poets,  our  historians,  our  scholars, 
our  generals,  our  publicists,  our  philosophers,  our 
divines,  our  journalists,  our  jurists,  our  scientists, 
and  all  of  these  have  personalities  crowned  with  a 
world-wide  fame.  The  question  is,  Whence  came 
we  ?  Asa  nation  we  are  young  in  years.  Whence 
this  tremendous  growth  and  this  great  national 
power?  What  is  the  story  of  the  evolution  of  this 
great  Republic?  I  answer,  the  story  of  the  fathers 
is  the  story  of  the  evolution  of  our  commonwealth. 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  109 

I  answer,  the  greatness  of  the  fathers  is  the  ex- 
planation of  our  rapid  growth  and  the  secret  of 
our  political  power.  You  cannot  explain  this  age 
and  leave  out  of  sight  the  earlier  age ;  you  must 
bring  forward  the  things  that  synchronize  and  the 
things  that  precede  our  age.  Take  the  fifty  years 
prior  to  the  settlement  of  those  American  colonies 
which  were  the  most  mighty  and  the  most  perma- 
nent— the  Jamestown  Colony,  the  colony  of  New 
York  Bay,  Plymouth  Colony,  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony ;  take  the  fifty  years  prior  to  the  day 
the  first  English  ship,  the  Good  Speed,  sailed  up  the 
Potomac,  prior  to  the  day  the  Half-moon  stopped 
at  Manhattan  Island  and  explored  the  Hudson, 
prior  to  the  day  the  Mayflower  landed  at  Plymouth 
Rock,  and  then  add  the  fifty  years  after,  the  years 
of  the  first  struggles  of  the  new  and  daring  colo- 
nies, which  take  us  to  the  close  of  Cromwell's  Com- 
monwealth, and  to  the  hour  when  Peter  Stuy  vesant 
surrendered  New  Amsterdam  to  the  forces  of  New 
England,  and  you  can  explain  the  American  Re- 
public. The  growth  upon  this  continent  was  rapid, 
because  there  was  back  of  it  the  growth  of  the  old 
continent. 

The  American  colonies  sprang  up  in  the  midst 
of  one  of  the  most  marvelous  centuries  of  all  time. 
It  was  the  century  which  carried  in  it  both  the 
Elizabethan  period  and  the  Cromwellian  period. 
It  carried  in  it  the  golden  age  of  the  famous  Dutch 


110    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

republic,  the  United  States  of  the  Netherlands. 
No  century  has  ever  seen  more  than  this  century 
which  I  have  bounded  saw.  It  saw  the  close  of 
Titian's  life,  and  of  Michelangelo's.  It  saw  the 
completion  of  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's.  Tintoretto 
was  in  it,  with  the  audacity  of  his  genius  and  the 
lightning  of  his  pencil.  It  saw  the  youth  of  Leib- 
nitz and  of  Newton.  It  saw  the  entire  life  of 
Descartes,  and  the  middle  manhood  of  Spinoza. 
It  watched  Grotius  from  his  birth  to  his  burial  in 
the  Holland  city  of  Delft.  In  it  the  telescope 
came  and  recreated  the  very  heavens  for  man.  In 
it  the  microscope  was  perfected  and  revealed  to 
man  God's  perfect  work  in  the  realm  of  the  in- 
finitely small.  It  taught  that  the  speck  of  dust  is 
with  God  an  organized  mountain.  The  thermom- 
eter, and  the  barometer,  and  the  air-pump,  and 
the  circulation  of  blood,  and  the  nature  and  use  of 
electricity  were  among  its  discoveries.  In  it  the 
Dutch  and  the  English  East  India  Companies 
were  established.  It  saw  the  magnificent  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  the  great  English  Rebellion,  the  be- 
heading of  Charles  I.,  the  Huguenot  struggle  in 
France,  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  and  their 
final  establishment  of  the  Protestant  republic.  In 
it  the  Bible  received  a  new  life  and  a  wider  mission. 
It  had  just  been  translated  into  English  in  time  to 
gild  with  its  light  of  Hebrew  glory  and  Christian 
faith  the  rude  life  of  our  savage  shores.     Its  liber- 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  Ill 

ating  truths  broke  forth  over  the  nations  like  light 
from  the  heights  celestial.  Men  learned  afresh  the 
vast  promises  of  God  waiting  to  be  realized,  and 
these  promises  filled  them  with  irrepressible  ambi- 
tions. They  learned  the  dignity  of  the  individual 
man,  and  began  to  think  for  self  and  to  assert  their 
personal  rights.  This  self-assertiveness  and  this 
holy  ambition,  which  came  from  God,  and  this  ex- 
pectation of  something  better  in  the  future,  this, 
this,  THIS,  explains  the  bound  onward  and  the  new 
enterprise  which  resulted  in  the  American  Repub- 
lic. Crowded  into  this  century  were  Bacon  and 
Shakespeare  in  England,  Cervantes  in  Spain,  Wil- 
liam of  Orange  in  the  Netherlands,  and  Galileo  in 
Italy.  (Galileo  was  condemned  just  five  years  be- 
fore Harvard  College  was  founded.)  Into  this 
century  must  be  crowded  the  names  of  Richard 
Hooker  and  Walter  Raleigh  and  Kepler  and  Ru- 
bens and  Vandyke  and  Claude  Lorrain  and  Pascal 
and  Milton  and  Cromwell.  It  was  a  century  in 
which  the  world  received,  as  it  were,  a  new  God 
to  serve  and  obey  and  to  fellowship  with ;  a  new 
view  of  the  powers  of  nature,  with  a  new  hold 
thereof;  a  new  faith  in  man,  his  worth  and  his 
power;  and  a  new  world  to  be  the  stage  on  which 
to  act  out  new  visions  and  new  hopes.  It  was  a 
century  energized  by  new  emergent  opinions,  new 
forces,  new  movements,  new  achievements,  new 
ideas,  new  opportunities. 


112    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Looking  at  this  century,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  American  colonies  were  planted  on  this  new 
continent,  the  evolution  of  the  American  Republic 
with  its  prescient  greatness  and  its  opening  future 
is  no  wonder.  It  exists  as  a  matter  of  course. 
There  were,  under  God,  a  hundred  social  and 
moral  forces  all  crying,  "  Let  there  be  an  Ameri- 
can Republic,"  and  there  was  an  American  Re- 
public. We  have  a  vast  genealogy ;  our  roots  run 
back  centuries  ;  our  annals  are  interlinked  with  the 
noblest  of  time.  We  are  the  result  of  a  hundred 
wonderful  historical  developments  wrought  out  in 
almost  a  hundred  lands  of  the  Old  World.  Our 
Republic  is  like  a  fine  picture  skilfully  woven  into 
a  costly  piece  of  tapestry  composed  of  many  beau- 
tiful threads,  each  single  thread  of  which  is  a  mar- 
velous work  in  itself  and  sufficient  for  a  profitable 
individual  study. 

In  the  addresses  of  this  Forefathers'-day  course, 
we  are  taking  up  and  examining  the  threads  of 
this  tapestry,  one  at  a  time.  The  one  thread 
before  us  to-night  is  the  rich  yellow  and  golden 
thread  of  old  Holland.  In  our  last  address  we 
listened  to  the  Jubilate  as  it  sounded  out  from  the 
chimes  of  Westminster;  in  this  address  we  are  to 
listen  to  the  Jubilate  as  it  sounds  out  from  the 
chimes  of  Antwerp.  There  is  no  discount  on  the 
chimes  of  Antwerp ;  they  are  not  one  whit  behind 
the  chimes  of  Westminster.     It  is  something  in- 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  113 

spiring  to  hear  an  anthem  rung  into  the  air  by  the 
bells  in  the  tower  of  the  Antwerp  cathedral.  A 
shower  of  bell- notes  falls  from  the  vast  spire.  There 
are  all  kinds  of  notes ;  there  are  the  deep  notes  of 
the  great  bells,  which  make  the  anthem  roll  through 
the  atmosphere  with  the  intonations  of  thun- 
der; then  there  is  the  ringing  of  the  little  bells, 
pealing  forth  the  same  notes  in  a  higher  key. 
These  notes  are  fine  and  small  and  sweet,  small  as 
a  bird's  warble.  They  fill  the  air  with  crisp  tin- 
klings,  which  are  as  distinct  as  the  sonorous  notes 
of  the  great  bells.  All  have  their  individuality, 
and  all  help  in  making  the  anthem  one  which  en- 
raptures and  enchains.  I  take  the  chimes  of  Ant- 
werp to  be  a  symbol  of  that  glorious  Dutch  re- 
public which  gave  the  world  the  anthem  of  liberty 
during  the  days  when  our  American  fathers  pre- 
pared for  and  built  our  civil  institutions.  The  doc- 
trines of  liberty  were  proclaimed  in  the  legislative 
halls  and  battle-fields  of  Holland  by  the  deep- 
toned,  rich  voices  of  statesmen  and  soldiers;  and 
at  the  same  time  the  same  doctrines  of  liberty  were 
proclaimed  by  the  higher-keyed,  musical  voices  of 
Holland's  boys  and  girls,  when,  in  the  free  public 
schools  of  the  land,  they  sang  the  patriotic  songs 
of  the  republic. 

In  taking  up  the  story  of  our  Dutch  progeni- 
tors, I  notice  in  the  very  start  that  there  are  new 
claims  being  made  to-day  on  behalf  of  the  Dutch. 


114   MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

American  history  is  being  rewritten  ;  new  research 
is  being  made  to  find  the  origin  of  our  civil  insti- 
tutions. This  is  as  it  should  be.  History  must 
be  written  and  rewritten  a  score  of  times  before 
we  can  reach  the  truth.  We  need  the  iconoclast 
and  the  scientific  critic.  We  need  the  redactor. 
History  is  often  written  under  prejudice,  or  under 
repression,  or  for  a  partizan  purpose.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  Anglomania.  Now,  Anglomania, 
if  it  had  the  opportunity,  would  warp  all  American 
history  so  as  to  secure  the  constant  laudation  of 
the  English  over  the  just  claims  of  all  other  na- 
tions. I  would  not  trust  the  man  who  turns  up 
his  trousers  and  carries  an  umbrella  in  New  York 
on  a  clear  day,  for  the  sole  reason  that  the  Atlantic 
cable  reports  it  is  raining  in  London,  to  write 
American  history,  no  matter  what  brain  power  he 
might  have.  You  know  how  historians  have  been 
treated  in  the  past.  Louis  XIV.  withdrew  a  pen- 
sion from  an  historian  of  his  day,  because  he  made 
some  adverse  remark  about  taxation.  Richelieu 
charged  a  certain  French  chronicler  with  treason 
and  treated  him  as  a  traitor,  because  he  told  some 
distasteful  truth  about  a  king  who  had  been  dead 
for  centuries.  Certainly  history  written  during 
such  times  needs  to  be  rewritten.  It  is  the  God- 
given  mission  of  the  modern  iconoclast  to  knock 
all  such  history  into  shivers.  Besides  this,  how 
often  are  hindrances  put  in  the  way  of  the  histo- 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  115 

rian,  and  that  by  those  from  whom  we  would  least 
expect  hindrances!  Let  me  give  you  an  example 
pertaining  to  our  English  friends  who  have  so 
loudly  claimed  to  be  the  direct  and  indirect  authors 
of  our  American  civilization.  In  1841  John  Ro- 
meyn  Broadhead  was  sent  to  Europe  by  the  State 
of  New  York  to  procure  copies  of  documents  relat- 
ing to  our  colonial  history  from  the  public  offices 
of  England,  France,  and  Holland.  He  was  well 
received  and  assisted  in  France  and  Holland ;  but 
how  in  England  ?  Lord  Palmerston  replied  to  his 
application  that  "  if  he  would  designate  the  partic- 
ular paper  he  wished  to  see,  it  would  be  officially 
examined,  and  if  no  objection  were  found  he  could 
have  a  copy  of  it  at  the  customary  rates."  Thus 
obstacles  were  put  in  his  way  for  a  year.  It  was 
only  when  a  new  ministry  came  into  power  that 
he  was  able  to  secure  access  to  documents  known 
to  be  stored  away,  but  not  sufficiently  known  to 
be  numbered.  The  fees  charged  were  exorbitant. 
In  the  interest  of  history  and  the  science  of  his- 
tory, free  access  to  all  public  documents  should 
have  been  allowed  him.  Now,  remember,  Mr. 
Broadhead  was  not  a  private  individual ;  he  was 
the  representative  of  the  Empire  State  of  Amer- 
ica. Davies,  the  historian  of  Holland,  went  to  the 
same  source  for  historic  light,  but  he  was  abso- 
lutely denied  in  his  own  land  any  access  to  histor- 
ical documents.     He  was  compelled  to  issue  his 


116    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

work  in  a  limited  form.  These  are  instances  in 
history-making  relating  to  that  nation  which,  for  the 
most  part,  has  furnished  the  men  who  have  written 
American  history — the  men  who  have  left  out  of 
American  history  almost  in  toto  the  influence  of 
the  Dutch  in  and  on  our  national  life.  Honest  and 
thinking  men  are  rising  up  and  are  putting  an  in- 
terrogation-point against  all  such  history ;  and  do 
you  wonder?  I  hold  that  the  iconoclast  has  a 
work  just  here  in  American  history  written  under 
English  influence  and  by  English  descendants. 

Our  history  should  be  rewritten,  because  we  are 
constantly  reaching  and  bringing  to  light  new  his- 
torical material.  Let  me  give  you  a  striking  case. 
At  the  time  I  was  born  it  was  not  even  known 
where  the  New  England  Pilgrims  originally  came 
from.  The  writings  of  Bradford,  the  first  governor 
of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  had  been  carried  to  Eng- 
land in  I  776  by  the  British,  and  we  were  all  in  the 
dark.  These  writings  have  been  recovered  in  my 
day,  and  hence  our  present  knowledge. 

At  least  two  things  have  worked  against  the 
Dutch  in  America  and  have  kept  them  from  their 
historic  due.  The  first  is  this :  the  caricature  of 
the  Dutch  by  Washington  Irving.  The  magic  pen 
of  Washington  Irving,  that  prince  and  father  of 
American  literature,  made  the  Dutch  the  victims 
of  a  caricature  which  captivated  the  fancy  of  the 
world.      The    history    of    the    fictitious    Diedrich 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  117 

Knickerbocker  is  but  a  humorous  romance.  It  is 
worse ;  it  is  a  bold  travesty,  and  that  according  to 
Irving's  own  admission.  It  is  a  gross  caricature. 
It  lauds  only  Dutch  courage  for  drink  and  Dutch 
valor  in  the  use  of  the  pipe.  The  only  halo  which  it 
weaves  for  the  brow  of  our  Dutch  fathers  is  the  halo 
woven  out  of  the  cloudy  wreath  of  tobacco  smoke. 
Besotted  with  beer,  nicotinized  with  tobacco,  ill- 
natured,  clownish,  fit  objects  of  ridicule — such 
are  the  Dutch  fathers  of  the  humorous  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker;  and  yet,  many  persons  know  only 
this  travesty.  This  travesty  has  stood  in  the  way 
of  true  and  real  history. 

The  second  thing  which  has  worked  against  the 
Dutch  in  American  history  is  this :  the  precedence 
which  has  been  given  to  the  Puritanism  and  hero- 
ism of  New  England.  The  English  and  their 
Yankee  descendants  have  monopolized  all  that  is 
good  in  American  history.  Their  appropriation 
has  been  wholesale.  The  English  have  a  genius 
for  appropriation  and  assimilation.  They  have  put 
their  hands  on  the  ends  of  the  earth — Canada,  Aus- 
tralia, East  India ;  they  have  grasped  all  of  these. 
In  1664  they  appropriated  New  Amsterdam,  and 
took  it  from  the  Dutch,  and  called  it  New  York. 
This  taking  from  others  is  an  old  trait  of  theirs. 
Go  back  as  far  as  the  Elizabethan  period  ;  a  recent 
writer  shows  that  even  back  there,  in  the  sphere 
of  literature,  they  took  from  others  and  exhibited 


118    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

marvelous  assimilative  faculties.  Shakespeare  bor- 
rowed from  every  quarter  not  alone  single  scenes, 
but  whole  plots  and  plays.  Hooker,  in  his  "  Ec- 
clesiastical Polity,"  follows  out  the  train  of  thought 
worked  out  by  Buchanan,  the  Scotchman.  Milton, 
at  a  later  date,  takes  from  the  Dutch  poet,  Vondel, 
the  scheme  for  his  "  Paradise  Lost  "  and  "  Samson 
Agonistes,"  with  many  of  his  happiest  expressions. 
In  no  case  is  any  acknowledgment  made  to  the 
foreign  authors  thus  devoured  and  used.  Modern 
investigation  alone  has  brought  out  the  fact  of 
these  English  appropriations. 

We  all  know  the  Yankee's  proclivities  for  tall 
talk  and  self-appropriation  and  self-help.  He  ex- 
cels even  his  English  father.  The  well-known 
dialogue  between  the  old  Englander  and  the  New- 
Englander  sets  this  forth.  It  is  Yankee  through 
and  through.  The  New-Englander  had  just  told 
of  a  wonderful  swimming  feat  which  he  once  per- 
formed ;  he  swam  twenty  miles  at  a  stretch.  The 
old  Englander  laughed  at  that  feat  as  a  mere  trifle, 
and  then  told  his  story.  His  story  was  this  :  When 
he  left  Liverpool  on  the  steamship,  he  looked  be- 
hind and  saw  a  man  in  the  water  swimming  after 
the  ship  with  the  evident  intention  of  following  the 
ship  across  the  ocean.  Certain  enough ;  on  the 
second  day  out,  there  was  the  man  swimming 
leisurely  along.  He  was  there  on  the  third  day, 
and  the  fourth,  and  the  fifth,  and  on  the  tenth 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  119 

day  he  came  up  Boston  harbor  even  with  the  ship. 
Nothing  abashed,  the  New-Englander  asked  the 
old  Englander  if  he  would  take  his  oath  to  that, 
and  when  he  had  taken  the  oath,  he  thanked  him, 
and  with  the  old-time  spirit  of  English  appropria- 
tion he  said,  "  Stranger,  I  am  a'mighty  glad  to 
have  such  a  credible  witness  as  you  to  that  swim- 
ming feat,  for  that  fellow  you  saw  and  have  told 
us  about  was  me." 

An  illustration  in  point  of  what  I  am  setting 
forth  is  seen  in  the  claims  of  the  English  historian, 
Edward  A.  Freeman.  In  his  lectures  on  "The 
English  People  in  their  Three  Homes  " — in  their 
home  in  old  England,  i.e.,  on  the  European  conti- 
nent, the  Netherlands,  from  which  the  English 
originally  came ;  in  their  home  in  middle  England, 
i.e.,  the  British  Isles;  and  in  their  new  home,  i.e., 
New  England  of  America — he  deliberately  argues 
that  New  England  is  simply  the  fruitage  of  old 
England  and  middle  England.  Here  are  some 
sentences  from  these  lectures  as  he  delivered  them 
to  American  audiences :  "  Wherever  the  English 
folk  dwell  there  is  England."  "  Your  Constitution 
is  really  our  constitution  put  into  a  formal  written 
shape  and  then  modified."  "Your  President  is 
beyond  all  doubt  the  English  king  modified." 
George  Washington  George  III.  modified!  God 
forbid!  It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Freeman  has  a 
tremendous  eye  for  seeing  resemblances,    He  sim, 


120    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ply  burlesques  the  word  "  modified,"  which  he  so 
often  uses.  Let  him  try  American  modification  in 
England  and  see  what  a  revolution  it  will  create. 
Away  goes  the  House  of  Lords.  Away  goes  the 
distinction  between  the  child  born  in  the  palace 
and  the  child  born  in  the  hovel.  Away  goes  the 
unwritten  constitution.  Away  goes  the  prime 
minister.  Away  goes  the  titled  nobility.  Away 
goes  the  throne.  The  American  Republic  is  in 
no  sense  the  English  monarchy.  The  American 
Revolution  did  something  far  other  than  "  modify." 
It  cut  us  forever  and  completely  loose  from  the  old, 
and  gave  us  institutions  which  were  entirely  new 
and  grandly  un-English. 

The  time  has  come  in  the  writing  of  American 
history  when  we  must  give  credit  to  others  besides 
the  English,  and  when  we  must,  for  the  sake  of 
fairness  and  for  the  sake  of  historic  fact,  break  up 
the  English  historical  monopoly.  It  is  time  to  say 
that  there  were  Dutch  Puritans.  American  history 
has  been  too  largely  written  from  the  English 
standpoint.  Let  us  divide  honors  all  around  and 
give  all  of  our  forefathers  their  share.  This  will 
change  the  order  of  things  and  will  in  many  cases 
compel  us  to  revise  our  judgments,  but  if  this  be 
fair  it  is  also  right  and  needed.  The  praise  of  the 
Pilgrims  and  Puritans  has  crystallized  into  public 
opinion.  Poets  and  novelists  have  woven  into 
their  story  brilliant  fictions,  and  these  captivate ; 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  121 

they  have  almost  the  authority  of  history.  The 
English  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  have  had  the  good 
fortune  to  have  the  highest  genius  and  eloquence 
and  philosophic  acumen,  and  have  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  exaltation  of  their  mission  and  their 
deeds  and  their  creations.  The  English  Pilgrims 
and  Puritans  have  absorbed  public  attention  ;  they 
have  gotten  into  the  public  schools  of  the  nation, 
and  thus  into  the  hearts  and  brains  of  the  Ameri- 
can boys  and  girls.  The  time  has  come  when  in 
fairness  the  Dutch  Puritans  must  get  there  too.  I 
do  not  mean  to  rob  our  English  forefathers,  but 
I  do  mean  to  be  fair  to  our  Dutch  forefathers.  I 
have  already  spoken  the  praises  of  the  Pilgrim  and 
the  Puritan,  and  I  will  not  withdraw  what  I  have 
spoken ;  but  this  is  a  Dutch  night  and  the  praises 
of  the  Dutch  must  be  spoken.  I  will  not  go  back 
on  the  New  England  farmer's  shot  fired  at  Concord 
and  Lexington,  which  echoed  around  the  world. 
It  was  a  grand  shot,  and  thus  I  characterize  it  when 
I  walk  over  these  battle-fields.  I  will  not  go  back 
on  that  shot,  but  this  I  must  claim  and  this  I  do 
claim,  viz. :  that  shot  was  the  heroism  of  the  old 
Dutch  republic  reproducing  itself  in  the  new  civil 
/jlife  of  American  freemen. 

How  did  the  Hollanders  help  in  the  building  up 
of  America  and  American  institutions?  That  is 
the  question  to-night.  I  have  time  to  present  only 
two  points. 


1 


22    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 


i.  By  hewing  and  shaping  and  filling  and  in- 
spiring the  English  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  who 
are  boasted  factors  in  American  life. 

England  was  not  the  first  to  lead  Europe.  It 
was  the  Dutch  republic  that  first  led  Europe;  it 
first  taught  what  true  liberty  was.  The  entire  war 
of  Holland  with  Spain  was  a  Puritan  war.  Three 
quarters  of  a  century  this  war  raged.  In  this  war 
Holland  permitted  thousands  of  English  soldiers 
to  fight.  English  soldiers  came  into  her  army 
monarchists,  and  left  it  republicans,  and  went  home 
to  spread  republican  ideas.  For  two  centuries  and 
a  quarter  the  territory  which  the  hardy  Hollanders 
took  from  the  Haarlem  Lake  and  the  Zuyder  Zee 
stood  first  in  civilization.  It  commanded  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world,  and  the  oceans  of  the  world,  and 
the  commerce  of  the  world,  and  the  manufactures 
of  the  world,  and  the  gold  of  the  world ;  it  was  the 
great  intellectual  and  institutional  storehouse  of  the 
world.     These  are  undisputed  historical  facts. 

But  our  object  now  is  to  look  especially  at  what 
Holland  did  for  England,  and  especially  that  part 
of  England  which  sent  us  the  Pilgrims  and  the 
Puritans.  It  was  the  first  to  give  the  English- 
speaking  people  the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue. 
The  first  complete  English  Bible  in  print  was  the 
work  of  Miles  Coverdale,  who  was  employed  to 
make  the  translation  by  Jacob  van  Meteren,  of 
Antwerp.     The  translation  was  from  the  Dutch 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  123 

and  Latin,  and  was  printed  in  Antwerp  and  sent 
across  the  channel  by  Van  Meteren,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "  for  the  advancement  of  the  religion  of 
Christ  in  England."  There  was  no  country  so 
saturated  with  Bible  ideas  as  was  Holland,  and 
this  fact  accounts  for  the  political  energy  of  the 
Dutch.  Under  the  persecution  of  Philip  II.  and 
the  Duke  of  Alva  one  hundred  thousand  Holland- 
ers crossed  the  channel  and  made  their  home  in 
the  eastern  and  southern  counties  of  England. 
What  a  power  this  must  have  been  in  England! 
These  one  hundred  thousand  came  from  a  land  of 
public  schools  and  universities.  Each  man  brought 
his  Bible,  which  he  could  read  for  himself  and  for 
his  neighbor.  They  were  not  paupers  seeking 
alms ;  they  were  industrious,  self-supporting  men, 
scholars,  bankers,  manufacturers,  merchants;  all  of 
them  were  freemen,  refugees  for  freedom's  sake  and 
for  conscience'  sake.  They  were  men,  grand  men 
and  brave  men,  men  constructed  out  of  the  very 
prodigality  of  nature ;  they  were  massive  in  intel- 
lect and  in  soul.  Never  in  all  the  history  of  the 
world  was  there  such  another  missionary  movement 
on  such  a  magnificent  scale.  They  taught  England 
commerce,  education,  agriculture,  banking,  the 
trades,  morals,  republican  politics,  and,  above  all, 
the  true  religion.  Their  daily  life  was  a  sermon 
on  Christian  virtue  and  temperance  and  chastity. 
It  was  out  of  these  counties  into  which  the  Dutch 


124    MAKERS   OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

came  that  the  University  of  Cambridge  arose,  that 
educational  center  of  broad  thought  and  Puritanism 
which  gave  America  the  first  scholars  and  leaders 
of  New  England.  Under  the  labors  of  these 
scholars  of  Holland  the  university  was  almost  re- 
born. It  was  out  of  these  counties  that  the  English 
Commonwealth  sprang,  and  that  Cromwell  sprang, 
and  that  Cromwell's  army  was  mustered.  Above 
all,  it  was  out  of  these  counties,  impressed  by  Dutch 
ideas  and  principles  and  filled  with  Dutch  blood 
by  intermarriage,  that  the  great  English  exodus  to 
America  came,  the  Puritan  exodus  which  made 
New  England  what  it  has  been.  This  is  one  of  the 
ways  Holland  has  been  a  builder  of  America. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  it  was  from  these 
counties  that  John  Robinson  and  his  congregation 
of  Scrooby  went  to  Holland.  These  were  the 
American  Pilgrims.  These  Pilgrims  dwelt  in  Hol- 
land for  twelve  years,  and  became  citizens  of  the 
United  States  of  the  Netherlands,  and  sent  their 
children  to  the  public  schools  of  the  republic,  and 
used  the  secret  ballot,  and  learned  the  doctrine  of 
the  rights  of  the  individual  man,  and  then  came, 
filled  with  Hollandic  and  republican  ideas,  straight 
from  the  shores  of  Holland  to  Plymouth  Rock.  It 
was  Holland  with  its  republicanism  that  hewed  and 
shaped  and  gave  us  those  granite  blocks  which  were 
swung  into  and  solidified  into  the  foundations  of 
our  nation,  viz.,  the  English  Pilgrims   and  the 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  125 

English  Puritans.  Said  I  not  the  truth  when  I 
said  that  the  farmer's  shot  at  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord was  the  heroic  spirit  of  the  Dutch  republic 
finding  a  resurrection  in  the  new  civic  life  of  New 
England  heroes? 

2.  The  Hollanders  helped  in  the  building  of  the 
American  Republic  by  the  colony  of  the  New  Nether- 
lands which  they  established  upon  our  shores,  and 
by  the  influence  which  it  exerted  in  sister  colonies. 

What  influence  did  Holland  exert  in  other 
colonies,  do  you  ask  ? 

There  was  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania.  It 
exerted  a  tremendous  influence  in  the  Republic. 
William  Penn,  the  founder  of  that  colony,  was  the 
son  of  a  Dutch  mother  as  well  as  of  an  English 
father.  He  preached  in  Holland  and  brought 
hundreds  of  his  converts  to  his  colony.  He  drafted 
the  Pennsylvania  code  according  to  the  laws  of  his 
mother's  republic. 

There  was  the  colony  of  Connecticut.  Hollanders 
exerted  a  tremendous  influence  there.  The  Con- 
necticut Colony  has  been  rightly  called  the  minia- 
ture American  Republic.  Our  fathers  patterned 
the  national  institutions  more  after  Connecticut 
than  after  any  other  existent  colony.  But  who 
modeled  Connecticut?  Thomas  Hooker,  an  Eng- 
lish refugee,  direct  from  Holland. 

There  was  Rhode  Island.  Holland  exerted  a 
tremendous   influence   in   Rhode   Island.      Roger 


126    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Williams  was  a  Welshman  full  of  Hollandic  ideas. 
He  was  the  man  who  taught  Milton,  the  poet,  the 
Dutch  language.  He  was  a  Baptist.  Now  the 
English  Baptists  were  the  converts  of  the  Holland 
Mennonites  or  Anabaptists,  who  believed  in  the 
separation  of  church  and  state ;  this  was  the  re- 
publican principle  upon  which  Roger  Williams  built 
Rhode  Island. 

But  the  work  of  Holland  in  America  was  more 
direct  than  anything  we  have  yet  noticed.  She 
built  up  what  is  now  the  Empire  State  of  the  Union, 
the  State  of  New  York.  She  founded  it  by  her 
own  sons  and  daughters ;  she  molded  it ;  she  gave 
it  the  very  institutions  which  have  continued  to 
this  day.  On  Manhattan  Island  she  built  the  first 
free  church  and  the  first  free  school  of  America. 
She  gave  New  York  half  a  century  of  the  Dutch 
republic  simon-pure.  Manhattan  Island  was  as 
much  a  part  of  the  Dutch  republic  as  was  Holland 
itself.  Manhattan  Island  was  hers  not  by  con- 
quest, as  Plymouth  Rock  with  its  surrounding 
region  was  the  Pilgrims' ;  it  was  hers  by  an  out- 
and-out  purchase.  Holland  purchased  Manhattan 
Island  from  the  Indians  for  the  sum  of  twenty-four 
dollars.  A  sharp  Dutch  bargain,  you  say?  No; 
it  was  all  that  it  was  worth.  Put  that  money  at 
interest  and  let  it  compound,  and  the  money  will 
be  equal  to  the  market  value  of  Manhattan  Island 
to-day.     I  have  seen  the  figures.     Money  and  real 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  127 

estate  must  run  close  together,  else  we  would  have 
financial  confusion. 

Two  things  the  Dutch  Colony  which  once  reigned 
where  we  worship  to-night  preserved  in  their  in- 
tegrity. These  were  freedom  of  worship,  i.e.,  re- 
ligious toleration,  and  the  political  principle  that 
where  there  is  taxation  there  must  be  representa- 
tion, i.-e.,  the  consent  of  the  governed.  These  two 
principles  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  governor,  once 
undertook  to  ignore.  The  people  in  the  first  in- 
stance appealed  to  the  home  republic,  and  the 
governor  was  rebuked  and  this  proclamation  was 
issued:  "All  men  own  their  own  consciences." 
The  people  in  the  second  instance  drew  up  a  pub- 
lic and  representative  remonstrance,  in  which  they 
declared  that  government  should  be  administered 
according  to  the  law  of  God,  should  respect  indi- 
vidual rights,  and  should  receive  its  power  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed.  This  was  in  1653.  This 
was  the  first  declaration  of  independence  ever  issued 
on  the  American  continent.  It  was  Bunker  Hill,  New 
York,  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  years  in  ad- 
vance of  Bunker  Hill,  Boston. 

Thus  our  debt  to  Holland  opens  before  us.  Our 
Constitution  is  written,  not  unwritten,  as  in  Eng- 
land ;  this  we  got  from  Holland.  We  have  the 
system  of  the  public  record  of  deeds  and  mort- 
gages; this  we  got  from  Holland.  We  have  the 
free-school  system ;    this   we  got  from   Holland. 


128    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

We  have  the  doctrine  that  government  gets  its 
authority  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  this 
we  got  from  Holland.  The  separation  of  church 
and  state  is  an  American  idea;  this  we  got  from 
Holland.  Our  motto  is,  "  United  we  stand,  divided 
we  fall;"  this  we  got  from  Holland;  that  was  a 
motto  fo  the  Dutch  republic — "  Unity  makes 
might."  We  have  among  us  the  freedom  of  the 
press ;  this  we  got  from  Holland.  We  have  the 
secret  written  ballot;  this  we  got  from  Holland. 
We  have  reform  in  the  laws  concerning  the  rights 
of  married  women ;  this  we  got  from  Holland. 
Above  all,  we  have  the  principle  that  "  all  men 
are  created  equal  " ;  this  we  got  from  Holland. 

We  shall  not  read  history  rightly  if  we  only  look 
at  Holland  of  to-day  and  judge  Holland  by  the 
present ;  the  past  was  different  from  the  present. 
The  changes  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  are 
such  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  use  language  that 
seems  extravagant  if  we  would  do  the  republic  of 
Holland  justice.  Our  civil  fathers  knew  it.  It  was 
a  dominant  power  in  the  day  of  the  three  historic 
ships,  the  Good  Speed,  the  Half -moon,  and  the  May- 
flower. It  existed  all  through  our  colonial  history, 
and  it  was  a  power  our  fathers  felt  when  they  wrote 
our  Declaration  of  Independence  and  when  they 
framed  our  national  Constitution.  It  was  the 
training-school  of  our  nation's  founders. 

The  Dutch  republic  is  now  dead ;  it  was  crushed 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  129 

by  Napoleon,  who  tramped  the  earth  with  the  iron 
heel  of  a  cruel  despot ;  but  before  it  died  it  safely 
handed  the  torch  of  liberty  to  the  new  Republic 
across  the  sea.  The  United  States  of  America  are 
in  principle  and  in  national  life  the  United  States 
of  Holland  amplified,  refined,  perpetuated. 

In  closing  my  address  to-night,  I  call  upon  you 
to  stand  by  the  civil  institutions  bequeathed  to  us 
by  our  civil  fathers.  Let  me  particularize  just  one 
— one  which  has  been  a  mighty  blessing  to  the 
Republic.  I  refer  to  our  public  school ;  and  I  refer 
to  it  because  to-day  it  is  made  the  subject  of 
special  hostile  attack.  There  are  men  in  America 
who  are  striving  to  smite  it  into  the  dust.  They 
are  seeking  to  undermine  it  and  to  crowd  it  out  by 
un-American  substitutes.  My  fellow-men,  the 
public  school  in  itself  is  a  little  germinant  American 
Republic  keeping  up  true  democratic  equality.  It 
is  the  nation's  institution,  and  not  the  institution 
of  a  church  with  a  bias  on  the  side  of  self,  teaching 
sectarianism  and  planting  the  seed  of  dissension 
and  future  schism  in  the  very  cradle.  It  is  the 
nation's  institution,  and  not  the  institution  of  a 
class  segregating  our  boys  and  girls  according  to 
the  amount  of  money  in  the  pocket-books  of  their 
fathers,  and  begetting  a  class  feeling  in  our  commu- 
nities. The  American  Republic  owns  the  boys  and 
girls  born  under  its  flag,  and  its  public  school  is  its 
one  institution  to  fit  them  for  citizenship.     It  fuses 


130    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

all  classes  and  creeds,  and  makes  the  child  in  his 
ideas  and  feelings  and  sympathies  and  purposes, 
and  in  every  fiber  of  his  being,  an  American. 
Here  the  children  are  taught  to  sing  the  songs  of 
the  Republic,  and  are  taught  what  our  institutions 
cost,  and  are  indoctrinated  in  the  principles  of 
Americanism.  It  is  the  great  unifier  of  the  differ- 
ent nationalities  pouring  in  upon  our  shores.  It 
is  our  defense  against  all  hierarchies,  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical, and  against  all  deadly  isms  imported 
from  foreign  shores.  It  puts  the  American  flag  into 
the  hands  of  our  children,  to  be  carried  by  them 
all  through  life.  The  man  who  strikes  down  this 
distinctively  American  institution,  which  has  occu- 
pied the  soil  ever  since  the  Hollanders  planted  it 
in  New  Amsterdam,  should  be  treated  as  we  treat 
the  man  who  fires  on  the  stars  and  stripes. 

I  call  upon  you  to-night  to  honor  the  civil  fathers 
of  America.  Hold  on  to  their  intense  trust  in  God 
and  to  their  reverent  spirit  toward  God.  Honor 
God's  church  as  they  honored  it.  Kneel  at  the 
prayer  altar  which  they  erected  to  God.  Read 
God's  Word  as  they  read  it.  Let  Turner's  paint- 
ing, "  The  Old  Dutch  Grandmother  Reading  her 
Bible,"  be  translated  into  life  in  every  American 
home.  Make  the  lives  of  the  children  the  glory 
of  the  fathers.  Keep  America  intact  as  God's 
loom  for  the  interweaving  of  all  people  into  a  re- 
public of  God.     Renew  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 


THE  HOLLANDERS.  131 

pendence.  Amend  the  Constitution ;  make  it  true 
to  God ;  refill  it  with  the  spirit  of  the  fathers ;  fit 
it  to  the  times ;  make  it  proclaim  the  present  truth. 
Keep  America  true  to  herself,  and  thus  keep  her 
true  to  the  world.  The  world  needs  America,  the 
latest  beautiful  civil  flower  of  the  past. 

A  noted  traveler  who  has  circled  the  world  says  : 
"  At  the  bottom  of  the  wail  of  every  struggling 
people  you  find  American  aspirations.  In  Switzer- 
land I  heard  the  news  of  the  death  of  Garfield,  and 
all  the  Alps  seemed  quivering  in  sympathy  with 
our  national  bereavement.  In  Ceylon  I  heard  of 
the  death  of  Longfellow,  and  all  the  tropical  forests 
seemed  trembling  in  pain  at  our  grief.  In  the 
Inland  Sea  of  Japan  I  heard  of  the  death  of  Emer- 
son, and  all  the  sacred  groves  seemed  uttering  their 
sympathy  with  our  loss.  Wherever  on  earth  I 
stood,  I  put  my  ear  upon  the  heart  of  nations,  and 
I  have  listened  not  to  what  the  people  are  ready 
to  say  in  public  in  the  face  of  tyranny,  but  to  what 
the  people  are  saying  at  their  firesides  and  in  their 
secret  thoughts;  and  this  is  what  I  have  always 
heard:  the  echo  of  the  prayer  of  our  martyred 
Lincoln,  that  '  the  government  of  the  people,  for 
the  people,  by  the  people,  may  not  perish  from 
the  earth.'  " 

The  world  to-day  needs  America,  as  America 
once  needed  Holland. 


V. 
THE  SCOTCH, 


133 


THE    SCOTCH.* 

The  commemoration  of  the  deeds  of  our  civil 
fathers  is  a  perpetual  duty.  There  come  to  us 
exhilaration  and  inspiration  and  vitality  of  holy 
purpose  from  living  with  the  heroes  of  God  who 
have  glorified  the  past  by  their  loyalty  to  the  right. 
Macaulay  says,  "  No  people  who  fail  to  take  pride 
in  the  deeds  of  their  ancestors  will  ever  do  any- 
thing in  which  their  posterity  can  take  pride." 
Especially  is  this  true  when  their  ancestors  have 
stood  in  the  front  ranks  of  human  progress  and, 
like  our  ancestors,  have  fought  and  won  the  battles 
of  the  ages. 

Honoring  ancestors  should  prove  a  large  trade 
in  the  American  commonwealth,  and  that  because 
we  are  rich  in  ancestors.  We  can  truthfully  claim 
kinship  to  every  line  of  human  nobility  that  has 
done  anything  grand  by  way  of  sacrifice  in  the 
uplift  of  the  world  in  these  last  centuries.     The 

*  Delivered  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  before  the  Presbyterian  Union 
of  that  city. 

137 


138    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

best  of  a  score  of  the  leading  races  of  the  earth 
focalize  right  here.  And  this  is  to  our  national 
advantage.  A  great  people  is  stronger  and  more 
fertile  from  the  variety  of  its  component  parts  and 
from  the  friendly  play  of  the  electric  currents 
which  have  their  origin  in  the  diversity  that  is  held 
in  friendship. 

I  look  upon  our  country  as  God's  great  loom  for 
the  interweaving  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth.  The 
noble  men  and  noble  women  from  the  different 
races  of  the  Old  World  are  the  threads  of  silk  and 
of  silver  and  of  gold,  and  the  fabric  woven  is  the 
American  Republic,  beautiful  with  its  holy  free- 
dom, its  constitutional  rights,  and  its  magnificent 
and  elevating  institutions,  both  civil  and  religious. 
The  fabric  of  our  national  civilization,  which  is  dis- 
tinctively American,  is  complex,  and  the  credit  for 
its  beauty  and  strength  and  value  should  be  as 
manifold  as  its  contributing  constituents  are  mul- 
tifold. There  should  be  honest  recognition  and 
praise  given  all  around.  Let  the  Pilgrim  be  praised 
where  the  Pilgrim  should  be  praised ;  let  the  Puri- 
tan be  praised  where  the  Puritan  should  be  praised  ; 
let  the  Hollander  be  praised  where  the  Hollander 
should  be  praised ;  and  let  the  Scotch  and  their 
descendants  be  praised  where  the  Scotch  and  their 
descendants  should  be  praised.  Let  the  highest 
type  of  manhood  built  into  the  construction  of  our 
civic  personality  be  admired,  no  matter  from  what 


THE  SCOTCH  139 

race  it  has  come.  The  only  restriction  I  would 
lay  down  is  this :  choose  only  the  best  manhood 
to  honor,  because  the  type  of  manhood  which  you 
honor  is  the  type  of  manhood  which  you  will 
inevitably  seek  to  perpetuate.  Admire  only  the 
best  and  choicest  threads  in  the  fabric.  Up  to  this 
point  in  our  national  history  we  have  not  been  im- 
partial in  our  admiration  of  our  ancestors.  New 
England  has  created  a  monopoly  here.  The  large- 
talking  Yankee,  true  to  his  pedigree,  has  talked 
himself  into  a  largeness  out  of  all  proportion  with 
the  facts.  Hitherto  he  has  written  the  history  of 
the  country,  and  he  has  so  put  himself  into  history 
that  there  has  been  little  room  there  for  others. 
He  has  not  done  justice  to  the  Hollander ;  he  has 
not  done  justice  to  the  Huguenot ;  he  has  not 
done  justice  to  the  Scot.  All  of  these  were  first- 
class  believers  in  human  liberty  and  not  one  whit 
behind  either  Pilgrim  or  Puritan  in  the  sacrifices 
which  they  made  for  our  Republic.  The  eyes  of 
the  public  are  being  opened,  and  the  result  is  there 
is  an  honest  and  a  popular  demand  that  American 
history  be  rewritten  from  alpha  to  omega,  and  that 
the  uncredited  heroes  be  enthroned  in  the  midst 
of  their  lawful  rewards,  and  that  every  omitted 
chapter  be  inserted  in  full.  My  fellow-men, 
American  history  has  yet  to  be  written.  The 
Yankee  has  yet  to  hold  fellowship  on  the  historic 
page  with  the  men  of  other  races  from  whom  he 


140    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

received  his  best  ideas  and  who  led  him  up  to  the 
alpine  heights  of  republicanism  in  the  colonial 
days.  He  must  yet  lift  his  hat  with  respect  to 
both  the  Dutchman  and  the  Scotchman.  It  is  our 
duty  to  reach  a  full  and  an  impartial  view  of  our 
American  nationality. 

To-night  we  are  to  speak  of  the  Scotch  and  their 
descendants  as  makers  of  America.  They  were 
the  first  on  American  soil  openly  to  advocate 
American  independence.  We  wish  to  do  for  them 
what  the  famous  poet  and  novelist,  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  has  done  for  the  physical  beauties  of  the 
landscape  of  Scotia,  viz.,  make  them  known.  Scott 
has  not  added  one  particle  of  beauty  to  a  single 
sprig  of  heather;  he  has  not  put  a  single  additional 
touch  of  color  upon  a  single  bluebell ;  he  has  not 
created  one  added  glint  of  light  on  his  beloved 
lakes  ;  he  has  not  changed  a  particle  of  the  country 
concerning  which  he  so  beautifully  wrote.  He 
has  simply  looked  at  Mid-Lothian,  Lomond,  and 
the  Trosachs  with  his  own  eyes,  has  seen  for  him- 
self the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  nature's  handiwork 
in  Scotia,  and  has  told  in  prose  and  poetry  just 
what  he  has  seen.  What  Scott  has  done  for  the 
physical  country  we  must  do  for  the  noble  actions 
of  the  Scotch,  viz.,  take  them  in  and  tell  them 
out. 

Where  shall  I  begin?  With  John  Knox.  And 
why  begin  with  John  Knox?   Because  the  Scotch- 


THE   SCOTCH.  141 

• 

Americans  are  the  sons  of  his  faith,  just  as,  spirit- 
ually, Knox  himself  is  the  son  of  John  Calvin.  The 
political  truth  which  the  Scotch- Americans  held 
and  for  which  they  fought  in  revolutionary  times 
and  in  prerevolutionary  times  was  not  a  mushroom 
growth  of  a  single  night ;  it  was  the  oak  of  cen- 
turies. It  was  the  result  of  the  unwavering  fidelity 
which  for  two  full  centuries  held  sacred  the  political 
tenets  of  John  Knox,  the  apostle  of  liberty,  who 
said  to  the  haughty  queen,  "  If  princes  exceed 
their  bounds  they  may  be  resisted  by  force."  In 
that  magnificent  sentiment,  uttered  with  a  magnifi- 
cent fearlessness,  I  hear  the  far-off  drum-beat  of 
the  American  Revolution.  Froude,  the  greatest 
of  modern  English  historians,  declares  of  this  bold 
utterance  of  John  Knox,  "  It  is  the  creed  of  re- 
publics in  its  first  hard  form."  This  utterance  of 
John  Knox  became  ingrained  in  the  very  being  of 
all  true  Scotchmen,  and  they  believed  it  and  as- 
serted it  and  lived  it.  In  our  own  age  a  son  of 
Scottish  faith  has  said,  "  Government  of  the  peo- 
ple, by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  never  perish 
from  the  earth."  This  saying,  received  with  uni- 
versal applause,  has  been  lifted  into  a  classic  by 
the  American  people  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
But  what  is  this  saying?  Only  the  utterance  of 
John  Knox  grown  large. 

I  have  referred  to  John  Knox  as  a  spiritual  son 
of  John  Calvin.     He  went  straight  from  Calvin's 


142    MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

home  in  Geneva  to  Scotland  when,  at  the  call  of 
his  countrymen,  he  entered  Scotland  to  inaugurate 
the  glorious  reformation  which  he  carried  to  suc- 
cess. His  theology  was  Calvinistic,  and  so  has  been 
the  theology  of  his  descendants.  This  gives  me 
an  opportunity  to  speak  a  passing  word  for  Cal- 
vinism. I  do  not  ask  you  to-day  to  read  Calvin's 
"  Institutes  "  or  to  study  Calvin's  commentaries, 
but  I  do  ask  you  to  read  Calvin  as  he  has  written 
himself  into  history  and  then  take  the  measure  of 
Calvin.  In  history  John  Calvin  wrote  Swiss  Prot- 
estantism, and  French  Huguenotism,  and  English 
Puritanism,  and  Scotch  sturdiness  of  faith,  and  New 
England  Pilgrimism.  He  put  into  human  life  a 
sense  of  reverence,  and  of  liberty  founded  on  rev- 
erence, and  these  will  last  in  the  world  long  after 
his  "  Institutes  "  and  commentaries  have  become 
worm-eaten  and  have  crumbled  into  dust.  Now 
the  point  I  wish  to  emphasize  is  this :  Calvin  has 
blessed  America  through  John  Knox.  Listen  to 
the  voice  of  the  great  historians  here.  Buckle 
says,  ff  Wherever  it  has  gone  in  France,  Switzer- 
land,. Britain,  America,  the  Calvinistic  faith  has 
shown  itself  the  unfailing  friend  of  constitutional 
liberty."  D'Aubigne  says,  "  Calvin  was  the  founder 
of  the  greatest  of  republics :  the  oppressed  who 
went  to  America  were  the  sons  of  his  faith."  Mot- 
ley says,  "  Holland,  England,  America,  owe  their 
liberties  to  the  Calvinists."     Bancroft  says,  "  He 


THE  SCOTCH.  143 

that  wiil  not  honor  the  memory  and  respect  the 
influence  of  Calvin  knows  but  little  of  the  origin  of 
American  independence.  .  .  .  The  light  of  his 
genius  shattered  the  mask  of  darkness  which  super- 
stition had  held  for  centuries  before  the  brow  of 
religion."  These  are  the  voices  of  the  authorities 
in  history,  and  we  can  see  how  facts  accord  with 
their  testimony  to  Calvinism.  Calvinism  exalts  as 
its  cardinal  doctrine  the  absolute  sovereignty  of 
God.  Let  a  man  believe  with  all  his  heart  the  ab- 
solute sovereignty  of  God,  let  him  believe  that  his 
first  and  last  allegiance'  is  to  God  as  sovereign,  and 
he  will  know  no  such  thing  as  fear  of  the  face  of 
man,  king  or  potentate  or  peasant.  He  will  feel 
that  in  every  battle  for  truth  and  liberty  "  one  man 
with  God  is  a  majority,"  and  that  victory  is  sure. 
That  was  the  fate  of  John  Knox  when  he  came 
from  the  presence  of  John  Calvin  and  worked  out 
the  reformation  of  Scotland.  He  began  his  work 
with  the  cry,  "  O  God,  give  me  Scotland  or  I  die ! " 
and  God  gave  him  Scotland  and  he  lives.  What 
was  the  reformation  which  he  wrought?  It  con- 
sisted in  this :  He  exterminated  from  Scotland  the 
Roman  Catholic  hierarchy,  that  representative  of 
monarchy,  that  natural  enemy  of  republicanism, 
and  he  exterminated  it  root  and  branch.  In  its 
place  he  gave  Scotland  Presbyterianism  pure  and 
simple.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  famous  Scotch 
kirk.     Lecky,   the    historian,  says,   "  The  Scotch 


144    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

kirk  was  by  its  constitution  essentially  republican. 
It  was  in  this  respect  the  very  antipodes  of  the 
Anglican  church  and  of  the  Gallican  branch  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  both  of  which  did  all  they  could 
to  consecrate  despotism  and  strengthen  its  au~ 
thority."  Carlyle  says,  "  A  man's  religion  is  the 
chief  fact  with  regard  to  him."  Knox  gave  Scotch- 
men their  religion.  He  taught  them  to  learn  from 
the  Bible  their  rights  as  Christians  and  as  citi- 
zens. He  taught  them  that  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment there  is  no  sacerdotal  class  save  that  which 
includes  all  of  the  people :  "  Ye  are  a  royal  priest- 
hood!" He  taught  them  from  the  Bible  the 
principle  of  representation  and  the  right  of  choice. 
That  certainly  is  Americanism  as  we  have  it  to-day. 
He  put  the  Bible  into  the  hands  of  the  people  and 
taught  the  right  of  private  interpretation.  He  in- 
troduced schools  for  the  people  and  gave  them 
education.  He  established  a  system  of  schools. 
Thus  he  laid  the  foundation  of  future  Scotland  and 
built  up  the  institutions  which  were  destined  to 
mold  the  character  of  the  men  about  to  cross  the 
ocean  and  become  the  makers  of  America.  This 
one  thing  is  to  be  kept  prominently  in  mind  :  John 
Knox  worked  largely  for  the  church,  and  through 
the  church,  and  by  the  church.  All  of  his  institu- 
tions centered  in  the  kirk.  In  short,  John  Knox 
made  and  built  up  the  church,  and  the  church 
made    and    built    up  the    people.     Carlyle    says, 


THE  SCOTCH.  145 

"  Knox  gave  Scotland  a  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
Scotch  literature  and  thought  and  industry, — James 
Watt,  David  Hume,  Walter  Scott,  Robert  Burns 
(he  who  wrote  '  A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that ') — I 
find  the  Reformation  acting  in  the  heart's  core  of 
every  one  of  these  persons.  Without  the  Refor- 
mation they  would  not  have  been."  But  Carlyle 
was  a  Scotchman.  A  man  who  was  not  a  Scotch- 
man says,  "  In  proportion  to  their  small  numbers 
they  are  the  most  distinguished  little  people  since 
the  days  of  the  Athenians,  and  the  most  educated 
people  of  the  modern  races.  All  the  industrial  arts 
are  at  home  in  Glasgow,  and  all  the  fine  arts  in 
Edinburgh,  and  as  for  literature,  it  is  everywhere." 
The  natural  sequence  of  John  Knox  in  Scotland 
is  just  what  we  see  on  the  page  of  Scottish  history  : 
(i)  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  literally 
signed  with  the  blood  of  the  best  sons  of  Scotland, 
the  Covenanters.  The  Covenanters  were  most 
potent  in  their  influence  during  the  period  of  the 
colonization  of  New  England  and  when  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  colonies  were  taking  shape.  (2)  The 
Sanquhar  Declaration,  signed  by  Richard  Cameron 
and  Donald  Cargill,  and  the  great  revolution. 
(3)  The  notable  movement  which  resulted,  in  our 
own  day,  in  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  which 
has  given  us  the  names  of  Chalmers  and  Candlish 
and  Guthrie.  All  of  these  historic  movements 
show  the  features  of  John  Knox,  in  that  they  exalt 


146    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

and  declare  the  equality  of  man,  liberty  in  religion, 
the  value  of  the  open  Bible,  the  need  of  a  sancti- 
fied Sabbath,  the  power  of  a  pure  church,  and  the 
rights  of  free  speech,  free  press,  free  schools. 

The  question  before  us  now  is,  How  did  these 
men  whom  Knox  made  reach  America?  How  did 
they  come  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  those  who  be- 
came the  makers  of  America?  At  this  point  the 
history  of  the  Scotch-Americans  resembles  some- 
what the  history  of  the  New  England  Pilgrims. 
The  two  histories  are  parallel.  The  New  England 
Pilgrims  came  to  America  by  way  of  Holland ;  the 
Scotch-Americans  came  to  America  by  way  of  the 
province  of  Ulster,  Ireland.  Only  a  small  portion 
of  the  Scotch  in  the  colonial  times  came  to  the  col- 
onies directly  from  Scotland. 

Just  here  comes  in  the  story  of  Ulster.  In  the 
early  days  of  prelatic  James  I.  the  rebellion  of  two 
of  the  great  nobles  of  the  province  in  the  north  of 
Ireland  furnished  the  king  an  excuse  to  confiscate 
their  vast  domains.  To  hold  these  domains  and  to 
populate  them  with  men  who  could  hold  their  own 
successfully  against  the  rest  of  Catholic  Ireland, 
James  determined  to  found  a  colony  of  picked  sub- 
jects. He  offered  special  inducements  to  the  Scotch 
to  make  Ulster  their  home.  The  inducements  were 
such  and  the  charter  promised  so  favorable  that 
large  numbers  responded.  Of  these  James  took 
his  pick.     This  colony  received  its  charter  April 


THE  SCOTCH.  14? 

i6,  1605.  The  Scotch  in  their  new  home  of  Ulster 
were  joined  by  many  of  God's  noblemen,  who  were 
one  with  them  in  religious  thinking  and  in  a  holy 
life,  who  came  from  the  English  Puritans  and  from 
the  French  Huguenots.  This  mixture  modified 
and  improved  in  some  regard  the  Puritan  Scotch 
stock.  To-day  this  people  are  known  by  the  name 
of  Scotch-Irish.  The  name  is  a  misnomer.  It 
would  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  Scotch  of  the 
colony  of  Ulster  intermarried  with  the  Irish,  and 
that  this  people,  therefore,  is  a  people  of  mixed 
blood.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  The  name  Scotch- 
Irish,  which  has  its  origin  in  purely  geographical 
reasons,  is  ethnologically  incorrect.  The  Ulster 
people  to  this  day  are  Scotch  through  and  through 
and  out  and  out.  There  is  no  intermarriage  ;  there 
is  no  union  of  the  Scotch  and  the  Irish  races.  The 
name  Scotch-Irish  is  not  used  in  the  Emerald  Isle, 
and  in  the  interest  of  historical  correctness  I  argue 
that  it  should  not  be  used  anywhere.  In  the 
Emerald  Isle,  by  Irish  and  Scotch  alike,  these 
people  are  called  Ulstermen,  and  that  is  their 
name. 

I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  what  a  country  these 
colonists  of  1605  made  out  of  Ulster  and  the  sur- 
rounding territory.  They  took  with  them  all  that 
John  Knox  gave  them,  and  the  result  was  prosper- 
ity on  all  lines.  But  the  colonists  were  not  allowed 
to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  their  way.    They  were 


148    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

oppressed,  just  as  the  American  colonists  were, 
by  prelatic,  Episcopalian  England.  First,  England, 
by  the  passage  of  oppressive  measures,  took  from 
Ulster  its  woolen  trade.  This  was  like  a  stroke  of 
paralysis.  It  caused  the  first  great  exodus  of  the 
Scotch  colonists  to  America.  A  second  and  a 
larger  exodus  was  caused  by  the  scandalous  ad- 
vancement of  the  rents  of  the  farms  and  by  a  tax- 
ation on  the  improvements  caused  by  the  industry 
of  the  people.  The  first  outrage  made  an  attack 
on  commerce  and  manufacture ;  the  second  outrage 
was  an  attack  on  the  agriculture  of  the  colony.  For 
fifty  long  years,  from  1720  to  1770,  the  people, 
abused  and  then  ejected  from  their  farms  and 
homesteads,  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  made 
what  they  were,  poured  in  streams  of  twelve  thou- 
sand a  year  into  America.  So  great  was  the 
inpour  that  when  we  come  to  the  times  of  the 
American  Revolution  the  Scotch  formed  almost, 
if  not  altogether,  one  third  of  the  entire  population 
of  the  American  colonies. 

And  where  did  they  go  in  America?  They 
formed  no  colonies  of  their  own.  Where  did  they 
go? 

Some  of  them  went  to  New  England  and  settled 
in  Boston  and  in  Worcester,  and  some  threaded 
their  way  up  into  Maine  and  New  Hampshire 
and  Vermont.  Twenty  thousand  settled  along  the 
Atlantic  coast  from  the  Charles  River  up  to  the 


THE  SCOTCH.  149 

Kennebec.  Froude  holds  that  in  Boston  it  was 
they  who  gave  the  name  to  Bunker  Hill.  There 
are  Scotch  Covenanter  churches  to-day  in  Maine 
and  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  and  there  are 
Presbyterian  churches  in  New  Hampshire.  In  1 754 
the  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Londonderry, 
N.  H.,  numbered  over  seven  hundred  communi- 
cants. Although  comparatively  but  a  few  of  the 
vast  Scotch  exodus  settled  in  New  England,  yet 
those  who  did  have  made  their  record  and  have 
told  on  American  life.  They  took  with  them  into 
New  England  the  things  John  Knox  gave  them : 
the  kirk,  and  the  school,  and  the  civil  creed  of  equal 
rights,  and  the  sanctified  Sabbath,  and  the  inherent 
dignity  of  man. 

It  was  from  the  New  England  Scotch  that 
George  Washington  got  Henry  Knox,  a  member 
of  his  cabinet,  and  the  first  Secretary  of  War  in  the 
American  Republic.  When  the  Revolution  broke 
out  it  was  the  Scotch  who  fought  the  battle  of  Ben- 
nington. General  Stark  and  his  "Green  Mountain 
boys"  were  Scotch.  The  Scotch  of  Maine  gave  to 
the  country  Matthew  Thornton,  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  latter  days 
the  New  England  Scotch  gave  to  journalism  Hor- 
ace Greeley,  the  father  of  modern  journalism,  and 
to  science  Professor  Asa  Gray,  one  of  Harvard's 
leading  professors. 

But  the  greater  part  of  the  enormous  Scotch 


150   MAKERS  OE  THE  AMERICAN-  REPUBLIC. 

exodus  poured  into  the  Middle  and  the  Southern 
colonies.  They  literally  took  possession  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Philadelphia,  with  its  Independence  Hall, 
was  their  city,  just  as  Boston,  with  its  Faneuil  Hall, 
was  the  city  of  the  Puritans.  They  hold  Philadelphia 
to  this  day.  It  was  to  Pennsylvania  the  Rev.  Fran- 
cis Makemie  came,  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  in 
America  of  whose  history  we  have  any  knowledge. 
He  was  the  man  who  was  imprisoned  in  New  York 
for  preaching  in  his  independent  way,  and  he  was 
the  man  who  formed  the  first  American  presbytery. 
We  find  the  Scotch  also  in  New  Jersey.  A  large 
company  of  them  came  to  New  Jersey,  we  are  told, 
under  the  prompting  of  William  Penn.  As  New 
Jersey  was  one  of  the  leading  battle-fields  of  the 
Revolution,  the  Scotch,  who  had  become  very 
strong  there,  were  among  Washington's  chief  sup- 
porters. New  Jersey  gave  to  the  army  the  Rev. 
James  Caldwell,  the  chaplain  of  the  First  Brigade, 
whose  history  is  given  in  full  in  the  "  Life  and 
Letters  of  Elias  Boudinot."  He  was  more  than 
chaplain ;  he  was  at  one  time  also  the  assistant 
commissary-general.  Washington  esteemed  his 
service  as  invaluable.  He  was  well-nigh  ubiquitous. 
The  British  burned  down  his  manse  and  murdered 
his  wife  before  the  eyes  of  his  children,  and  they 
tried  also  to  burn  the  children  in  the  flames  of  the 
manse.  His  children  were  saved  only  by  a  hair- 
breadth escape.    Lafayette  took  one  of  his  mother- 


THE  SCOTCH.  151 

less  boys  and  adopted  him  and  gave  him  the  love 
and  opportunity  of  his  princely  home.  George 
Washington  subscribed  twenty-five  guineas  out  of 
his  own  private  funds  for  the  support  of  the  other 
children.  Mr.  Caldwell  fell  by  the  hand  of  an 
assassin.  On  one  occasion  it  is  told  of  him  that, 
seeing  one  of  the  companies  slacking  their  fire  for 
want  of  wadding,  he  rushed  into  the  Presbyterian 
church  near  by,  and  gathering  an  armful  of  Watts's 
hymn-books  he  distributed  them  along  the  line, 
with  the  order,  "  Now  put  Watts  into  them,  boys." 
With  a  cheer  the  soldiers  rammed  the  charges 
home  and  gave  the  British  Watts  with  a  will.  It 
was  the  New  Jersey  Scotch  who  founded  the  fa- 
mous Presbyterian  university,  Princeton  College, 
the  college  that  can  outkick  anything  on  the  con- 
tinent, and  that  up  to  date. 

Having  located  at  first  on  the  western  and 
southern  borders  of  the  old  colonies,  the  Scotch 
naturally  pressed  their  way  west  and  south.  While 
they  founded  no  colonies,  they  did  in  the  course 
of  time  found  new  States.  They  poured  their 
thousands  down  into  the  Carolinas,  North  and 
South.  They  made  the  States  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  and  Alabama.  They  poured  also  into 
Virginia  until  they  out-influenced  there  the 
haughty  Cavalier.  They  took  possession  of  the 
Mississippi  valley  and  brought  it  into  the  Republic. 
Ohio,  too,  felt  their  influence.     They  became  so 


152    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

strong  in  our  own  Empire  State  of  New  York  that 
even  our  first  governor,  Governor  Clinton,  the  man 
who  has  given  his  name  to  the  principal  avenue  of 
Brooklyn,  was  a  scion  of  that  race. 

I  imagine  some  son  of  the  Scot  saying,  just  here, 
"  How  I  wish  my  ancestors  had  massed  themselves 
together  as  did  the  Puritans,  and  had  formed  a 
colony  of  their  own !  Then  they  could  have  struck 
with  a  trip-hammer  on  the  anvil  of  time  the  ele- 
ments making  this  nation.  They  could  have  made 
a  name  for  themselves  in  American  history  like 
that  of  Massachusetts."  This  wish  is  a  mistake. 
No  matter  about  the  name  in  history.  The  name 
is  coming,  for  the  facts  of  early  days,  which  are 
being  resurrected  and  glorified  by  modern  histor- 
ical research,  will  build  up  the  Scotch  name  and 
set  it  in  a  noonday  splendor  before  the  universe. 
The  Scotch  elements  were  too  strong  and  too  good 
to  be  massed ;  they  were  of  the  kind  fitted  to  be 
scattered  as  a  leavening  influence  through  the  land 
and  among  the  diverse  peoples  of  the  land.  Thus 
scattered  as  they  were,  they  worked  more  mightily 
for  American  liberty  than  they  could  have  worked 
if  they  had  been  solidified  into  a  single  colony. 
Here  allow  me  to  illustrate  and  give  concrete  cases. 
Being  Presbyterian  in  faith,  they  formed  a  general 
synod,  which  met  once  a  year.  Through  this  syn- 
od they  worked  powerfully  for  American  liberty. 
They  were  the  sons  of  John  JCnox,  and,  like  Knox? 


THE   SCOTCH.  153 

they  used  the  church  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  In 
the  General  Synod  there  were  delegates  from  all 
the  colonies,  and  they  formed  a  union  of  thought 
and  purpose  and  plan.  Thus  the  Scotch  demon- 
strated to  America  that  what  was  possible  in  re- 
ligious affairs  was  possible  in  civil  affairs,  viz.,  a 
union  of  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  a  union  by  rep- 
resentation— a  federal  union. 

The  Scotch  General  Synod  was  a  model  of  the 
coming  Colonial  Congress.  It  made  it  possible. 
It  suggested  it.  For  fifty  years  this  synod  was  the 
most  powerful  and  compact  religious  organization 
in  the  country.  The  men  in  the  synod,  like  the 
Scotch  from  Ulster,  were  men  of  the  very  highest 
type.  The  ministers  were  men  educated  at  Glas- 
gow and  Edinburgh  and  Dublin  and  Harvard 
universities.  They  discussed  all  questions  that 
pertained  to  the  interest  of  the  country,  and  sent 
their  delegates  home  to  all  the  colonies  to  spread 
their  advanced  principles  concerning  their  rights 
and  duties. 

See  the  results  of  this.  Four  years  before  the 
battle  of  Lexington  the  Presbyterians  of  North 
Carolina  resisted  the  oppression  of  the  British 
crown  as  unjust.  The  governor  of  the  colony 
treated  them  as  outlaws,  and  sent  an  army  against 
them  and  shot  them  down,  and  took  captive  and 
hung  thirty  of  them.  This  was  the  first  blood  of 
the  Revolution.    It  is  known  in  history  as  the  War 


154    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

of  the  Regulators.  Bancroft  says  of  it,  "  The  blood 
of  the  first  rebels  against  British  oppression  was 
first  shed  among  the  settlers  on  the  branches  of 
the  Cape  Fear  River."     This  was  May  16,  1 77 1. 

See  the  results  of  this.  One  year  before  the 
Philadelphia  Declaration  of  Independence  the  Pres- 
byterians of  Mecklenburg,  N.  C,  met  together  and 
publicly  issued  their  declaration  of  independence 
from  the  rule  of  Britain.  Here  is  one  sentence 
from  that  declaration :  "  We  hereby  absolve  our- 
selves from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown ;  we 
hereby  declare  ourselves  a  free  and  independent 
people."  The  men  who  issued  this  Mecklenburg 
declaration  were  the  men  on  the  walls  of  whose 
homes  hung  the  National  Covenant  of  Scotland, 
which  many  of  their  ancestors  had  signed.  Thus 
you  see  that  the  famous  and  historic  covenant  of 
Greyfriars  Churchyard  formed  the  rugged  and 
solemn  background  of  American  liberties.  "  It 
can  be  said,  without  fear  of  challenge,  that  Scotch 
blood  flows  through  every  principle  in  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  which  forms  the  founda- 
tion of  American  freedom." 

Bancroft  says,  in  writing  of  the  Mecklenburg 
declaration,  which  antedated  the  Philadelphia 
Declaration  one  whole  year,  "  The  first  public 
voice  for  dissolving  all  connection  with  Great  Brit- 
ain came  not  from  the  Puritans  of  New  England, 
nor  from  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  nor  from  the 


THE   SCOTCH.  155 

planters  of  Virginia,  but  from  the  Scotch  Presby- 
terians." 

Wallace  Bruce,  a  man  with  a  double  Scotch 
name  and  a  double  Scotch  nature,  our  honored 
consul  to  Scotland,  puts  Bancroft's  eulogy  into 
verse,  and  in  these  fitting  words  honors  the  event 
of  Mecklenburg: 

"  Manhattan  and  Plymouth  and  Jamestown 

Can  boast  of  their  heritage  true, 
But  Mecklenburg's  fame  is  immortal 

When  we  number  the  stars  in  the  blue; 
The  Scotch-Irish  Puritan  Fathers 

First  drafted  the  words  of  the  free, 
And  the  speech  of  Virginia's  Henry 

Is  the  crown  of  our  liberty's  plea." 

In  1775  the  General  Presbyterian  Synod,  meet- 
ing in  Philadelphia  side  by  side  with  the  Colonial 
Congress,  issued  a  pastoral  letter  calling  on  the 
people  to  defend  their  rights  against  British  usur- 
pation. This  letter  was  a  mighty  power  with  the 
people  and  with  Congress.  You  see  here  the  power 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  how  aggressive  it 
was.  It  was  ready  in  advance  for  July  4,  1776, 
and  so  were  all  its  people  scattered  through  all  the 
colonies.  When  that  day  came  it  was  Thomas 
Jefferson,  a  scion  of  the  Scotch  race,  according  to 
the  record  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Congress,  who  was 
the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Professor  McCloskie,  of  Princeton,  says  the  Decla- 


156    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ration  of  Independence,  as  we  have  it  now,  is  in 
the  handwriting  of  the  son  of  Scotland  ;  it  was  first 
printed  by  another  Scotchman,  and  a  third  Scotch- 
man, Captain  Nixon,  was  the  first  to  read  it  pub- 
licly to  the  people. 

It  is  in  place  just  at  this  point  to  speak  of  two 
men  whose  names  will  always  be  connected  with 
the  American  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
with  the  great  Revolution.  The  first  is  the  name 
of  the  man  who  first  sounded  the  tocsin  of  war 
in  that  great  sentence  of  his,  "  Give  me  liberty 
or  give  me  death,"  and  made  the  tocsin  reverber- 
ate from  mountain  to  mountain  and  from  lake  to 
lake  until  the  thirteen  colonies  heard  the  echo 
and  resolved  to  be  freemen  or  die.  I  refer  to  Pat- 
rick Henry,  of  Virginia,  whose  mother  was  a  Pres- 
byterian. Of  him  Webster,  speaking  to  Jefferson, 
says,  "  He  was  far  before  us  all  in  maintaining  the 
spirit  of  the  Revolution." 

The  second  is  the  name  of  that  Presbyterian 
minister  whose  voice  it  was  that  brought  the  Con- 
gress finally  and  irrevocably  to  sign  the  great  in- 
strument, the  Declaration.  I  refer  to  the  venerable 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  President  of  Princeton  College, 
who  was  at  the  time  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress.  We  are  told  that  the  Congress  was 
hesitating.  The  country  was  looking  on.  Three 
million  hearts  were  violently  throbbing  in  intense 
anxiety,  waiting  for  the  old  bell  on  Independence 


THE   SCOTCH.  157 

Hall  to  ring.  "  It  was  an  hour  that  marked  the 
grandest  epoch  in  human  history."  What  a  scene 
was  there !  On  the  table  in  the  presence  of  that 
able  body  of  statesmen  lay  the  charter  of  human 
freedom  in  clear-cut  utterances,  flinging  defiance 
in  the  face  of  oppression.  It  was  an  hour  in  which 
strong  men  trembled.  There  was  a  painful  silence. 
In  the  midst  of  that  silence  Dr.  Witherspoon,  a 
lineal  descendant  of  John  Knox,  rose  and  uttered 
these  thrilling  words  :  "  To  hesitate  at  this  moment 
is  to  consent  to  our  own  slavery.  That  notable 
instrument  upon  your  table,  which  insures  immor- 
tality to  its  author,  should  be  subscribed  this  very 
morning  by  every  pen  in  this  house.  He  that  will 
not  respond  to  its  accent  and  strain  every  nerve  to 
carry  into  effect  its  provisions  is  unworthy  the  name 
of  freeman.  Whatever  I  have  of  property,  of  rep- 
utation, is  staked  on  the  issue  of  this  contest,  and 
although  these  gray  hairs  must  soon  descend  into 
the  sepulcher,  I  would  infinitely  rather  that  they 
descend  hither  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner 
than  desert  at  this  crisis  the  sacred  cause  of  my 
country."  That  was  the  voice  of  John  Knox  in 
Independence  Hall.  And  that  voice  prevailed.  The 
Declaration  was  signed,  the  liberty  bell  of  Inde- 
pendence Hall  rang  out,  and  the  foundation  of  the 
American  government  was  securely  laid.  Fourteen 
of  the  sons  of  Scotland  signed  this  Declaration. 
From  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 


158    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

pendence  American  history  grandly  enlarges,  and 
the  sons  of  the  Scotch  race  are  seen  in  nearly 
every  high  place.  Their  generals  led  in  the  great 
battles  of  the  Revolution  :  General  Wayne  at  Stony 
Point,  and  General  Campbell  at  Kings  Mountain, 
and  General  Montgomery  at  Quebec.  When  the 
great  American  Constitution  was  framed  their 
wisdom  prevailed  there.  Madison  is  claimed  by 
more  than  one  member  of  the  late  Scotch-Irish 
Congress  as  a  scion  of  this  race.  He  is  known  as 
the  father  of  the  American  Constitution.  Lincoln 
also,  the  author  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
is  claimed,  and  his  lineage  is  traced  back  to  the 
Scotch  who  settled  in  Kentucky.  Seven  gover- 
nors out  of  the  thirteen  original  States  were  Scotch. 
Then  come  their  Presidents  of  the  United  States, 
Jefferson,  Jackson,  Monroe,  James  Knox  Polk, 
Madison,  Taylor,  Buchanan,  Lincoln,  Johnson, 
Grant,  Hayes,  Arthur,  Harrison,  and  Cleveland. 

My  friends,  as  I  give  the  history  of  this  magnifi- 
cent Scotch  race  in  its  relation  to  American  life, 
I  am  heartily  glad  that  I  have  the  good  fortune  to 
have  the  Scotch  for  my  theme  to-night,  and  not 
the  Pilgrims,  and  not  the  Puritans,  and  not  the 
Hollanders  ;  for  when  the  Scotch  have  claimed  the 
first  battle  for  our  liberty ;  and  the  first  blood  shed ; 
and  the  first  declaration  of  independence  publicly 
issued ;  and  the  privilege  of  naming  Bunker  Hill ; 
and    Davy    Crockett,    the    most    picturesque    of 


THE  SCOTCH.  159 

American  characters,  the  wizard  of  the  woods ; 
and  Patrick  Henry,  the  resistless  orator  of  the 
Revolution ;  and  the  peerless  Poe,  the  illustrious 
poet;  and  Commodore  Perry,  the  illustrious  naval 
officer;  and  Jefferson,  who  wrote  the  Declaration 
of  Independence ;  and  Witherspoon,  whose  voice 
charmed  America  into  accepting  it ;  and  Madison, 
the  father  of  the  American  Constitution,  which 
Gladstone  pronounces  the  greatest  instrument  ever 
penned  in  a  given  time ;  and  Abraham  Lincoln, 
with  his  Emancipation  Proclamation,  America's 
greatest  glory  ;  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  man  who 
carried  the  Civil  War  to  its  grand  and  proper  close  ; 
and  Robert  Fulton,  the  father  of  steamboat  navi- 
gation, which  has  so  wonderfully  enlarged  com- 
merce ;  and  the  phenomenal  Morse,  who  with  his 
telegraph  has  linked  all  parts  of  the  world  in  in- 
stantaneous touch,  and  helped  on  the  brotherhood 
of  man ;  and  McCormick,  the  inventor  of  the 
American  reaper,  which  has  multiplied  indefinitely 
the  forces  of  American  agriculture ;  and  Andrew 
Jackson,  the  hero  of  the  War  of  1812  ;  and  Win- 
field  Scott,  the  hero  of  the  Mexican  War — when 
the  Scotch  have  claimed  all  these  great  men  and 
all  these  noble  things,  what  is  left  for  the  other 
makers  of  America  to  claim  and  exult  over? 

I  wish  to  speak  a  brief  word  relative  to  some  of 
the  striking  and  racial  characteristics  of  the  Scotch — 
characteristics  which  have  made  them  what  they  are. 


160    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  do  better  than  simply 
name  these  traits  and  illustrate  each  by  relating  a 
pertinent  anecdote.  I  notice  first  that  the  Scotch 
are: 

i.   Preeminently  truthful. 

They  are  truthful  even  to  the  point  of  blunt- 
ness.  When  I  was  a  boy  this  story  was  told  of 
Dr.  Blank,  a  Scotch  clergyman  of  Pittsburg,  and  it 
illustrates  my  point.  The  doctor  had  just  a  touch 
of  vanity  in  his  nature,  and  when  a  certain  college 
gave  him  a  D.D.  his  vanity  was  not  in  the  least 
crushed.  Indeed,  it  led  him  at  once  to  plan  a  trip 
home,  that  his  friends  in  the  old  country  might 
feast  their  eyes  on  a  doctor  of  divinity.  Once  in 
Scotland,  he  called  upon  his  old  pastor,  who  knew 
John's  fondness  for  John.  But  he  got  no  flattery 
from  the  old  pastor.  He  was  too  truthful  to  flatter. 
He  greeted  the  new-comer:  "  Well,  well,  John,  I 
hear  they  have  made  you  a  doctor  of  divinity?" 
The  new  D.D.  replied,  "  Yes,  they  persisted  in 
giving  me  the  title,  although  I  was  the  last  man  in 
the  world  to  deserve  it."  The  old  man,  detecting 
the  vanity  in  the  tones  of  the  voice,  replied  in  his 
blunt  way,  "  Yes,  yes ;  that's  just  what  I  thought 
myself,  John,  when  I  heard  it." 

2.  The  ScotcJi  are  men  of  principle,  and  largely 
given  to  protest. 

A  Scotchman  is  a  natural  nonconformist.  He 
loves  to  protest  against  things  and  institutions  and 


THE   SCOTCH.  161 

customs.  He  must  protest  or  die,  but  die  is  the 
very  last  thing  that  a  Scotchman  does  on  earth. 
That  he  may  find  an  opportunity  to  protest  he  is 
always  in  search  of  some  principle  to  take  hold  of 
and  advocate;  he  finds  a  principle  in  everything. 
He  will  split  hairs  and  then  imagine  that  the  points 
which  he  has  made  are  every  one  of  them  princi- 
ples, and  he  will  die  for  them  before  he  will  give 
them  up.  He  can  even,  if  need  be,  convert  pre- 
judices into  principles  and  thus  transfigure  them. 
Let  me  illustrate  how  the  Scotchman  reads  prin- 
ciple into  everything  and  in  everything  acts  on 
principle. 

Probably  you  have  heard  of  the  old  saying  that 
"a  Scotchman  never  shuts  the  door  after  him." 
That  was  true  in  olden  times.  He  knows  that  a 
door  will  shut ;  he  knows  what  the  latch  is  for ;  he 
knows  what  good  breeding  is  ;  he  knows  that  other 
people  shut  the  door  after  them.  He  is  not  acting 
from  ignorance ;  he  leaves  the  door  open  on  prin- 
ciple. He  has  argued  the  whole  question  out  to 
his  own  satisfaction,  and  logically  he  feels  that  he 
could  not  conscientiously  shut  the  door.  If  you 
wish  you  may  shut  it ;  he  will  not  criticize  you ; 
that  is  a  matter  for  your  own  conscience ;  but  he 
cannot.  Raillery  cannot  compel  him,  neither  can 
force.  He  has  argued  the  question  out.  He  has 
canvassed  the  arguments  in  favor  of  shutting  and 
the  arguments  in  favor  of  leaving  the  door  open, 


162    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

and  he  has  balanced  the  two,  and  the  balance  is 
on  the  side  of  not  shutting,  and  that  makes  it  a 
principle  with  him.  In  favor  of  shutting  the  door 
there  is : 

i.  A  cold  wind  may  blow  into  the  room.  But 
this  is  not  probable,  for  those  within  would  shut 
the  door  and  protect  themselves. 

2.  By  shutting  the  door  you  will  keep  people 
on  the  outside  from  hearing  the  conversation  car- 
ried on  within.  But  people  should  not  talk  about 
things  or  say  things  they  would  not  want  others 
to  hear  or  repeat. 

These  are  the  only  arguments  he  can  think  of 
for  shutting  the  door.  There  are  more  arguments 
in  favor  of  leaving  it  open : 

i.  If  the  door  slam  in  shutting  it  would  be  ex- 
ceeding unpleasant,  and  would  suggest  the  idea 
that  you  were  in  a  passion. 

2.  If  it  did  not  slam  it  might  make  a  creaking 
noise. 

3.  Suppose  that  it  makes  no  noise  at  all,  the 
impression  is  conveyed  that  you  are  going  away 
not  to  .return,  while  you  have  no  such  intention. 
You  must  not  give  false  impressions. 

4.  There  are  chances  that  when  you  come  back 
you  will  make  a  noise  in  opening  the  door,  which 
is  an  interruption  to  the  conversation.  That  is  bad 
manners. 

5.  By  not  shutting  the  door  you  give  the  parties 


THE  SCOTCH.  163 

remaining  behind  the  option  of  shutting  it  or  not, 
according  as  it  may  please  their  own  fancy.  This 
disposition  to  please  is  an  amiable  disposition  and 
should  be  cultivated. 

These  are  some  of  the  reasons  which  determined 
the  Scotchman  of  old  not  to  shut  the  door,  and  he 
found  a  principle  in  every  one  of  them.  This  looks 
like  a  burlesque,  but,  after  all,  it  is  infinitely  better 
to  be  a  man  of  principle  than  to  be  a  man  of  no 
principle.  A  man  who  will  put  principle  into  a 
little  thing  like  "  not  shutting  the  door,"  when  he 
comes  to  deal  with  the  eternal  verities,  when  he 
comes  to  stand  face  to  face  with  gigantic  wrong 
and  with  political  tyranny  and  with  unholy  op- 
pression, is  there  for  all  he  is  worth ;  the  whole 
man  is  there ;  and  when  a  whole  Scotchman  is 
there,  out  into  the  open  air  is  flung  a  Mecklenburg 
declaration  of  independence,  and  up  in  the  highest 
court  of  the  nation  you  have  a  Patrick  Henry  ut- 
tering an  oration  so  full  of  conviction  that  it  ushers 
in  the  American  Revolution. 

3.  The  Scotchman  has  as  a  trait  the  element  of 
persistence. 

Upon  his  drumhead  he  never  beats  a  retreat. 
It  is  liberty  or  death.  This  story  illustrates  how  a 
Scotchman  will  hold  on  and  follow  what  he  consid- 
ers to  be  his  one  line  of  duty.  It  is  told  of  a  clergy- 
man in  the  days  when  Knox  was  battling  against 
the  Roman  hierarchy.     His  congregation  brought 


164    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

a  charge  against  him  before  the  presbytery  that  he 
never  could  preach  a  sermon  without  breaking  a 
lance  with  the  pope — i.e.,  his  sermons  were  all  the 
same  thing:  pope  in  the  exordium,  pope  in  the 
body  of  the  sermon,  and  pope  in  the  peroration  or 
conclusion.  Thus  it  was  fifty-two  Sabbaths  of  the 
year.  His  preaching  grew  monotonous  and  the 
people  grew  weary.  The  presbytery  said,  "We 
will  try  him  :  we  will  give  him  a  text  to  preach 
from,  and  we  shall  hear  his  sermon,  and  we  shall 
see  if  your  charge  be  true — that  it  is  popery  and 
pope  no  matter  what  text  he  takes."  They  gave 
him  for  a  text  these  three  proper  names:  "Adam, 
Seth,  Enos."  When  the  presbytery  met  there  was 
a  great  congregation  there,  and  the  minister  felt 
that  they  needed  sound  doctrine  and  timely  warn- 
ing. He  saw  a  great  opportunity.  Solemnly  he 
took  his  place  in  the  pulpit  and  announced  his 
text,  "  Adam,  Seth,  Enos,"  and  this  was  his  first 
sentence :  "  My  dear  brethren,  these  men  lived  in 
a  day  when  there  was  no  pope  nor  popery,  and 
consequently  they  had  not  to  contend  against  the 
following  evils,"  and  he  enumerated  in  full  and 
without  waste  of  time  all  the  evils  of  Romanism. 

You  smile  at  that  man,  but  I  tell  you  that  we 
need  just  such  a  son  of  John  Knox  at  this  very 
moment  in  America.  The  Roman  hierarchy  is  in 
our  midst  insidiously  at  work  trying  to  weaken  and 
to  defeat  the  object  of  one  of  our  noblest  Ameri- 


THE  SCOTCH.  165 

can  institutions,  the  free  public  schools,  manned, 
conducted,  and  supported  by  the  state.  It  is  these 
schools  of  ours,  supported  and  conducted  by  the 
state,  that  unify  the  children  of  all  classes  and  of 
all  nationalities,  and  that  take  out  of  the  cradle  and 
out  of  childhood  all  sectarian  prejudices  and  reli- 
gious hatred  and  strife,  and  make  all  from  the  very 
start  of  life  American  through  and  through.  This 
means  a  solid,  intelligent  American  future.  Rome 
has  stepped  upon  the  scene  and  has  made  a  public 
demand  that  our  public-school  funds  shall  be  di- 
vided ;  that  is,  that  part  of  the  taxes  raised  from 
the  people  shall  be  given  to  the  Roman  Church  to 
be  used  for  sectarian  purposes.  The  Roman  Church 
is  pitted  against  the  American  state,  and  the  issue 
is  fairly  on.  We  need  a  stalwart  son  of  John  Knox 
who  knows  the  hierarchy  through  and  through  to 
tell  Rome  through  Mr.  Satolli  that  the  American 
people  mean  to  educate  their  own  citizens,  and  that 
they  are  going  to  keep  the  schools  of  the  Republic 
just  as  their  fathers  founded  them.  Sons  of  John 
Knox,  tell  that  to  Rome  not  only  fifty- two  Sab- 
baths every  year,  but  tell  that  to  Rome  every  day 
the  whole  year  round. 

I  have  been  speaking  to  you  of  your  duty  of 
protest  against  the  machinations  of  a  corrupt 
church;  let  me  now  in  closing  say  one  word  to 
you  concerning  your  duty  to  the  pure  evangelical 
Christian   church.     My   word   grows  out  of  this 


166    MAKERS  OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

history  of  the  freemen  of  Scotland  as  it  touches 
American  national  life.  John  Knox,  who  gave 
Scotland  its  national  power  and  character,  was  in 
loyal  relation  with  the  true  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Through  the  church  of  pure  doctrine  and  equal 
representation,  the  church  which  honored  the  Sab- 
bath and  the  open  Bible  and  the  rights  of  the  in- 
dividual man,  he  worked  his  great  work ;  that  is, 
through  the  church  in  which  every  one  had  the 
liberty  of  private  judgment  he  molded  public  sen- 
timent, and  by  the  fearless  and  free  discussion  of 
the  truth  in  this  church  he  freed  man's  mind  from 
superstition  and  welded  his  countrymen  together 
to  act  as  one  man  against  the  usurpations  of  op- 
pression, civil  and  ecclesiastical.  He  has  taught 
us  that  a  pure,  holy,  untrammeled,  independent 
church  is  a  mighty  safeguard  of  the  liberties  and 
rights  of  a  people ;  that  it  means  the  suppression 
of  all  hurtful  evil  and  vice  and  tyranny.  It  is  the 
enlightener  of  the  nation  and  its  educator  in  the 
holy  principles  and  moralities  which  perpetuate 
national  liberty  and  life.  In  the  light  of  his  teach- 
ings, let  us  learn  our  duty  of  loyalty  just  here. 
There  is  no  way  in  which  we  can  so  bless  our 
country  as  by  giving  it  a  pure,  free-thoughted, 
Bible-loving  church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Such  a  church 
is  a  power  which  will  make  citizens  of  brain  and 
character  and  holy  devotion  to  the  rights  of  man- 
kind.    Such   a  church   will  be   a  power  on  any 


THE  SCOTCH.  167 

question  when  it  asserts  itself  on  the  right  side. 
It  can  send  its  protest  through  the  land  like  a 
thunderbolt.  It  can  lead.  Church  of  John  Knox 
rooted  to-day  in  American  soil,  I  greet  you  as 
such  a  power,  and  assure  you  that  you  have  still 
a  patriotic  mission  in  this  Republic  which  you  have 
helped  to  build.  You  are  equipped  to-day  for 
work  as  you  have  never  before  been  equipped ;  en- 
ter that  work  with  hope  and  consecration.  Guard 
the  liberties  which  you  have  purchased  with  your 
blood.  Guard  the  institutions  which  incarnate  the 
best  thought  and  life  of  the  American  fathers. 

You  remember  what  Angelo  said  to  one  of  his 
pupils,  Donatello,  who  asked  him  to  come  and 
look  at  his  figure  of  St.  George  on  the  outside 
of  a  church  at  Florence.  "  The  great  sculptor 
looked  at  it  with  admiration  and  surprise.  Every 
limb  was  perfect,  every  outline  complete,  the  face 
lighted  with  almost  human  intelligence,  the  brow 
uplifted,  and  the  foot  forward  as  if  it  would  step 
into  life.  As  Donatello  waited  for  Angelo's  deci- 
sion the  great  sculptor  looked  at  the  statue,  slowly 
lifted  his  hand,  and  said,  'Now  march.''  That 
was  the  grandest  possible  encomium  he  could 
give  to  the  figure  of  St.  George  in  marble.  That 
is  God's  word  to  the  church  of  John  Knox  in 
America  to-day  :  "I  have  given  thee  opportunity  ; 
I  have  given  thee  royal  men;  I  have  given  thee 
freedom  of  thought ;  I  have  given  thee  knowledge ; 


168    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

I  have  given  thee  numbers ;  I  have  given  thee  My 
day  and  My  Book ;  I  have  given  thee  the  inspiring 
promises.  Now  inarch.  Battle  for  Me ;  honor  Me ; 
keep  My  day  holy ;  keep  My  truth  uncorrupted ; 
and,  above  all,  guard  and  serve  My  nation,  which 
I  have  refined  by  the  fires  of  conflict  and  revolu- 
tion. Lead  America  to  higher  and  better  things. 
Make  it  the  refuge  of  the  oppressed.  Make  it  the 
land  of  Beulah — a  land  married  unto  the  Lord." 


VI. 

THE  HUGUENOTS. 


169 


VI. 

THE  HUGUENOTS.* 

THE  chief  object  of  a  service  such  as  this  is  to 
enlighten  and  broaden  and  deepen  American  pa- 
triotism, to  secure  a  proper  valuation  of  our  Re- 
public with  its  popular  institutions,  and  to  exhibit 
the  overrule  and  supremacy  of  God  in  human 
history.  There  is  no  better  way  of  doing  this  than 
by  setting  forth  and  analyzing  the  forces  which 
worked  in  the  founding  and  upbuilding  of  our 
commonwealth.  The  hand  of  God  was  at  work 
for  long  centuries,  shaping  events  and  raising  up 
men  and  evolving  great  principles  and  incarnating 
the  truth  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  that  in  the 
fullness  of  time  there  might  be  the  rise  and  estab- 
lishment of  the  American  Republic  in  the  New 
World. 

If  there  had  been  no  God  in  history  there  would 

*  Delivered  before  the  Presbyterian  Ministerial  Association, 
New  York  City. 

173 


174    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

have  been  no  American  Republic.  God  made  the 
Pilgrims  and  guided  the  Mayflozver  and  founded 
the  Plymouth  Rock  Colony.  God  made  the  Puri- 
tans  and  gave  being  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
settlement.  God  made  the  Hollanders  and  planted 
the  New  Netherlands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  New  Amsterdam.  God 
made  the  Scotch,  and  the  Scotch  made  the  church 
of  John  Knox,  and  the  church  of  John  Knox  made 
the  province  of  Ulster,  and  the  province  of  Ulster 
gave  America  one  third  of  its  colonial  population 
which  struck  for  independence.  God  made  the 
Huguenots,  who  brought  to  America  their  Bible 
and  their  love  of  liberty  and  their  heroic  conscience, 
which  could  sacrifice  every  earthly  good  before  it 
could  prove  false  to  God's  cause  and  the  Hugue- 
nots' own  best  self.  All  these  were  makers  of 
America,  but  you  cannot  think  of  them  divorced 
from  God,  because  they  were  not  divorced  from 
God.  These  men  were  the  national  fathers  of  the 
Republic,  and  they  were  all  God-made  men.  They 
sought  God's  guidance  in  their  private  life,  their 
social  life,  their  business  life,  their  church  life,  their 
civil  life.  God  went  before  them,  and  the  invisible 
camps  of  God  were  all  around  their  camps  when 
they  pushed  their  campaign  for  principle.  Napo- 
leon said,  "  God  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  hea- 
viest battalions ;"  but  American  history  shows  that 
that  is  not  true.    If  that  were  always  true  our  civil 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  175 

fathers  would  have  gone  down  before  the  guns  of 
Britain. 

When  the  clock  of  time  struck  1776  the  hour 
had  come  when  God  wanted  the  American  Repub- 
lic as  a  part  of  his  world-plan.  He  did  not  bring 
it  into  existence  as  the  ultimatum  of  civil  progress, 
but  only  as  the  instrumentality  for  introducing 
greater  things  all  around  the  globe.  America  under 
God  exists  for  national  progress,  but  America  exists 
also  for  more  than  that :  it  exists  for  cosmopolitan 
progress.  God  is  using  it  as  His  object-lesson  to 
teach  mankind  the  value  of  freedom  of  thought, 
the  potentiality  of  popular  education,  and  the 
absurdity  of  kingcraft  and  priestcraft.  He  is  using 
it  to  create  a  rising  tide  of  republicanism  which 
shall  roll  in  glory  over  every  nation  of  the  earth. 
The  influence  of  the  American  Republic  is  at  work 
to-day  in  Spain  with  the  Castelars,  and  in  Italy  with 
the  Cavours,  and  in  England  with  the  Gladstones. 
It  turned  the  empire  of  Brazil  into  a  republic  with- 
out the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood.  De  Tocque- 
ville  predicted  that  "  the  growth  of  great  cities 
would  ruin  America  unless  these  cities  were  kept 
in  order  by  a  standing  army."  New  York  answers 
De  Tocqueville.  She  sends  him  this  message  :  "  All 
the  standing  army  which  the  greatest  republican 
city  of  America  needs  is  the  people,  armed  with 
a  free  ballot  and  led  by  a  courageous  preacher  of 
righteousness."      Lord    Beaconsfield    was    accus- 


176    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

tomed  to  lift  up  his  jeweled  finger  and  point  across 
the  Atlantic  and  affirm,  "  No  American  city  of 
any  commanding  size  is  well  governed  under  uni- 
versal suffrage,  or  ever  will  be."  Brooklyn  at  the 
present  hour  is  an  answer  to  the  scorn  of  Bea- 
consfield's  jeweled  finger.  Lord  Macaulay  wrote, 
"  As  for  America,  I  appeal  to  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Either  some  Caesar  or  Napoleon  will  seize 
the  reins  of  government  with  a  strong  hand,  or 
your  Republic  will  be  as  fearfully  plundered  and 
laid  waste  by  barbarians  in  the  twentieth  century 
as  the  Roman  empire  was  in  the  fifth  century,  with 
this  difference :  that  the  Huns  and  Vandals  who 
ravaged  Rome  came  from  without  her  borders, 
while  your  Huns  and  Vandals  will  be  engendered 
within  your  own  country  and  by  your  own  insti- 
tutions." The  answer  to  Lord  Macaulay  is  the 
American  Republic  on  the  eve  of  the  twentieth 
century  still  holding  its  own,  and  stronger  than 
ever,  and  on  a  perpetual  lookout  for  all  such  Huns 
and  Vandals.  A  Forefathers'  service  such  as  this 
gives  us  an  opportunity  of  pointing  to  the  glad  fact 
that  our  nation  is  reversing  the  black  prophecies 
of  pessimists  and  realizing  the  predictions  of  the 
optimists  of  the  ages.  More  than  this,  such  a  ser- 
vice enables  us  to  place  before  our  thought  that 
which  is  the  bed-rock  upon  which  rest  the  corner- 
stone and  the  upholding  pillars  of  our  Republic ; 
to  find  out  also  what  the  corner-stone  is  and  what 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  177 

the  pillars  are.  It  gives  us  an  opportunity  to  find 
out  where  the  nineteenth  century  came  from,  and 
to  discover  the  foes  of  republicanism,  that  we  may 
be  able  to  recognize  them  whenever  they  reappear 
in  our  midst.  It  brings  to  light  the  battles  which 
had  to  be  fought  before  we  could  be,  and  also 
the  victories  which  were  essential  to  our  existence. 
The  principles  and  the  men  that  made  us  in  the 
beginning  are  alone  the  type  of  principles  and  the 
type  of  men  that  can  perpetuate  us  and  keep  us  in 
triumph.  As  we  canvass  these  to-night  let  us  re- 
solve to  lock  hands  with  them  forever. 

A  service  such  as  this  exalts  before  us  the  value 
of  the  existence  of  patriotic  orders  in  our  broad 
land.  Patriotic  orders  are  always  in  order  in  a 
land  where  there  is  such  a  constant  influx  of  new 
and  foreign  elements.  They  are  of  value  to  edu- 
cate and  to  protect  and  to  feed  the  patriotic  spirit. 
If  they  exist  in  advance  of  foes  they  will  prevent 
the  rise  of  foes,  and  that  is  a  grand  work.  If  they 
exist  alongside  of  designing  foes  they  will  check- 
mate them  and  save  our  reigning  principles  and 
institutions.  Look  out  for  the  man  who  talks 
against  patriotic  orders ;  he  is  either  seeking  a 
cheap  reputation  for  broad-mindedness  or  he  is 
cloaking  some  deadly  treason.  What  has  genuine 
patriotism  to  fear  from  patriotic  orders?  The 
question  is  its  own  answer.  Instead  of  putting 
your  interrogation-point  opposite  patriotic  orders, 


178    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

put  your  interrogation-point  opposite  the  man  who 
questions  the  right  of  such  orders  to  exist. 

To-night,  speaking  as  a  Christian  minister,  I  am 
required  to  look  at  American  history  from  a  reli- 
gious standpoint ;  to  mark  the  play  and  power  of 
large-thoughted  religion  in  the  conception  and 
construction  of  our  national  life. 

In  the  making  of  America  the  element  of  re- 
ligion was  by  far  the  largest  element  at  work,  and 
no  one  could  give  American  history  in  its  com- 
pleteness, from  rostrum  or  platform  or  professor's 
chair  or  pulpit,  and  leave  out  the  play  and  power 
of  religion.  What  religion  was  it  that  had  such 
a  large  play  and  power  in  our  early  history?  I 
answer  in  a  single  word  :  Protestantism.  The  Pil- 
grims were  Protestants,  and  so  were  the  Puritans, 
and  so  were  the  Quakers,  and  so  were  the  Scotch, 
who  brought  with  them  the  church  of  John  Knox, 
and  so  were  the  men  of  the  Jamestown  Colony, 
Virginia,  and  so  were  the  Hugtienots.  When  you 
have  mentioned  these,  who  are  left  as  makers  of 
America? 

The  American  Republic  is  the  exponent  of 
Protestantism,  the  fullest  and  most  all-around  ex- 
ponent on  the  globe.  Americanism  and  Protes- 
tantism are  synonyms.  Do  you  object  to  this 
statement  because  by  implication  it  bears  hard  on 
Romanism  ?  Do  you  demand  that  Romanism  shall 
be  named  in  some  way  with  Americanism,  the  on- 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  179 

marching  and  triumphing  political  ism  of  the  age? 
Very  well,  I  will  name  it  and  put  my  thought 
in  another  form.  Americanism  is  Romanism  Cal- 
vinized,  Lutherized,  Zwingliized.  Americanism  is 
Rome  minus  the  pope,  minus  the  papal  ablegate, 
minus  the.  cardinal,  minus  Mariolatry,  minus  the 
dogma  of  infallibility,  minus  the  parochial  school, 
minus  the  mass,  minus  the  sword  of  persecution, 
minus  the  hierarchy,  minus  the  union  of  church 
and  state  with  the  church  supreme,  minus  the 
censorship  of  the  intellect,  minus  the  priesthood. 
Pare  these  excrescences  off  Romanism  and  I  am 
a  Romanist.  Pare  these  excrescences  off  Romanism 
and  your  remainder  will  be  something  like  Protes- 
tantism. Pare  these  excrescences  off  Romanism 
and  you  will  unfetter  the  consciences  of  men,  take 
away  the  censorship  of  the  intellect,  and  inaugu- 
rate freedom  of  thought  and  speech  and  choice  and 
religious  action.  You  will  insure  a  free  press,  a 
free  platform,  a  free  school,  a  free  church,  and  a 
free  state.  The  clear  verdict  of  history  is  this : 
Romanism  as  a  system,  without  these  modifica- 
tions, can  make  no  claim  to  be  one  of  the  makers 
of  America.  Only  a  stray  Romanist  here  and  there, 
Romanists  who  were  better  than  the  system,  who 
acted  without  ex  cathedra  authority,  lent  a  helping 
hand.  They  represented  themselves  and  not  the 
system.  The  system  was  at  work  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic  and  represented  itself.     This 


180    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  story  of  the  Huguenots  fully  shows.  It  was  the 
persecutions  of  Romanism  that  drove  the  Hugue- 
nots and  the  Dutch  Puritans  and  kindred  peoples 
from  their  native  lands  to  this  New  World  in  search 
of  liberty. 

I  will  give  right  here  a  specimen  from  Hugue- 
not history  indicative  of  the  spirit  and  conduct  of 
Romanism  back  in  the  early  ages  when  this  con- 
tinent was  being  peopled.  Back  in  the  year  1562 
Admiral  Coligni,  a  commanding  Huguenot  of 
France,  seeing  troublous  times  ahead  for  the  peo- 
ple of  his  faith,  thought  to  establish  a  refuge  for 
them  in  the  New  World.  For  this  purpose  he  sent 
a  colony  of  Huguenots  out  to  Florida.  This 
angered  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  who  was  the  right 
hand  of  the  pope  of  Rome.  He  could  not  bear  the 
thought  that  the  religion  of  John  Calvin  should 
have  a  single  foothold  on  the  American  continent. 
He  sent  over  Pedro  Melendez  to  destroy  them. 
This  man,  fired  by  Jesuit  priests,  gathered  an  army 
of  twenty-five  hundred,  crossed  the  sea,  and  landed 
at  St.  Augustine,  Fla.  He  issued  this  message  on 
landing :  "  The  Frenchman  who  is  a  Catholic  I  will 
spare,  but  every  heretic  shall  die."  Then  began 
the  work  of  death,  and  the  Huguenot  colony  was 
wiped  out  of  existence.  The  men,  the  defenseless 
women,  the  little  children,  the  sick,  were  all  cruelly 
massacred.  That  was  a  scene  enacted  on  the 
soil  that  is  part  of  the  American  Republic  to-day. 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  181 

Was  Pedro  Melendez  one  of  the  makers  of  our 
Republic? 

One  thing  is  certain,  and  that  is,  Romanism  in 
America  is  not  represented  by  the  Huguenots,  nor 
by  the  Pilgrims,  nor  by  the  Hollanders,  nor  by  the 
Scotch.  Its  largest  representation  is  found  in  the 
Irish.  The  Irish  stand  as  the  exponents  of  Rome. 
Now  the  Irish  emigration  is  a  late  importation. 
The  people  of  this  race  were  not  here  early  enough 
to  be  added  to  the  list  of  the  makers  of  the  Re- 
public. They  have  been  here  only  long  enough 
to  be  makers  of  modern  New  York — New  York 
prior  to  November  6,  1894,  New  York  which  is 
now  on  the  dissecting  table  of  the  Lexow  Inves- 
tigation Committee.  I  have  the  statistics  to  show 
that  the  Irish  emigration  to  America  belongs 
largely  to  the  last  half  of  this  present  century. 
Now  I  am  not  finding  fault  with  this  race  for  its 
tardiness  in  coming  here,  nor  for  its  lateness  in 
discovering  that  there  is  no  Romanized  state  in  all 
Europe  equal  to  our  Republic,  though  Rome  has 
had  centuries  upon  centuries  to  make  such  a  state, 
and  has  had  kings  at  its  command.  With  all  my 
heart  I  forgive  the  Irish  for  their  lateness  in  com- 
ing, and  for  their  comfort  I  would  assure  them  that 
the  Hollanders  and  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  and  the 
followers  of  John  Knox  filled  their  places  admira- 
bly back  yonder  in  the  formative  period  of  our 
national  life.    But  I  am  not  going  to  strike  a  single 


182    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

narrow  note  in  this  service  to-night,  so  I  say — I 
am  American  enough  to  say  even  to  this  people : 
If  you  want  the  freedom  of  our  land ;  if  you  want 
to  enjoy  our  citizenship ;  if  you  want  to  educate 
your  children  in  our  free  public  schools ;  if  you 
want  to  help  build  up  our  institutions  and  defend 
our  Declaration  of  Independence  and  Constitu- 
tion ;  if  you  want  to  take  our  oath  of  naturaliza- 
tion, which  cuts  off  every  man  who  takes  it  from 
all  allegiance,  direct  or  implied,  to  every  other  civil 
power  whatsoever,  and  which  makes  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  exclusively  supreme ;  if  you  want  to 
become  Americanized  through  and  through,  in 
and  out,  head  and  heart ;  and  if  you  want  to  be 
an  American  henceforth  in  all  your  life — school 
life,  home  life,  business  life,  social  life,  church  life, 
civil  life — then  come.  If  you  come  in  this  spirit 
and  for  these  purposes,  then,  in  the  name  of  the 
great  American  commonwealth,  welcome.  But  re- 
member this :  the  battles  fought  and  won  in  the 
Old  World  declare  that  any  other  type  of  coming 
will  be  utterly  vain  and  futile.  The  things  of 
medieval  times  have  taken  their  departure  from 
this  earth  forever.  The  eagle  is  out  of  its  shell. 
Our  chariot  of  nationality  is  drawn  by  the  noble 
steeds  of  individual  liberty  and  popular  education. 
You  may  ride  with  us  if  you  wish,  but  you  cannot 
drive.      Uncle  Sam  does  that. 

But  now  for  the  special  history  of  the  evening, 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  183 

viz.,  "  The  Story  of  the  Huguenots."  The  Hugue- 
nots are  two  centuries  older  than  the  American 
Republic.  Their  cause  began  with  the  French 
Reformation,  which  antedated  by  several  years 
the  Reformation  in  Germany  under  Luther  and  the 
Reformation  in  Switzerland  under  Zwingli.  Like 
these  reformations,  it  began  by  the  unchaining  of 
the  Bible  and  the  putting  of  the  Word  of  God  into 
the  hands  of  the  people.  Their  cause  arose  under 
the  reign  of  Francis  I.  of  France,  and  continued 
through  the  reigns  of  Henry  II.,  Francis  II.,  Charles 
IX.,  Henry  III.  and  IV.,  and  Louis  XIII.,  XIV., 
XV.  and  XVI.  Louis  XVI.  was  on  the  throne  of 
France  when  the  American  Revolution  began. 

The  French  people  are  just  a  people  in  which  a 
great  reformation  might  be  expected  to  succeed, 
and  D'Aubigne  asserts  that  their  reformation  was 
of  indigenous  origin.  They  are  a  people  of  ag- 
gressive spirit,  susceptible  to  great  suggestions, 
and  quick  in  the  apprehension  of  ideas.  They  are 
full  of  vivacity  and  of  brightness  and  of  irresistible 
impulse  and  enthusiasm.  The  Reformation  began 
with  Professor  Lefevre,  who  taught  his  pupil, 
William  Farel,  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
and  a  love  for  the  Bible.  These  two  were  timid 
until  they  were  joined  by  John  Calvin  and  Theo- 
dore Beza,  when  the  cause  received  a  great  im- 
petus. Calvin  was  the  great  French  reformer,  and 
Beza  was  the  man  who  uttered  that  immortal  say- 


184    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ing  to  the  king,  "  Sire,  it  is  in  truth  the  lot  of  the 
church  of  God,  in  whose  name  I  speak,  to  endure 
blows  and  not  to  strike  them ;  but  also,  may  it 
please  you  to  remember  that  it  is  an  anvil  that 
has  worn  out  many  hammers."  The  Huguenots 
were  Calvinist  in  faith  and  had  Calvin  himself  as 
their  teacher.  They  were  a  people  of  the  open 
Book.  Their  church  polity  was  Presbyterian.  They 
were  great  lovers  of  the  Psalms,  and  upon  all  oc- 
casions sang  the  version  translated  and  put  into 
meter  by  Clement  Merot.  The  Psalms  were  the 
Marseillaises  to  which  they  marched  in  all  their 
battles.  I  do  not  need  to  say  that  their  religious 
faith  and  their  church  polity  were  such  as  to 
awaken  in  the  Huguenots  the  spirit  of  liberty  and 
plant  in  their  souls  the  germs  of  republicanism. 
That  is  the  legitimate  product  of  Calvinism,  which 
exalts  God  and  conscience  as  supreme ;  and  the 
legitimate  outgrowth  of  Presbyterianism,  which  is 
representative  in  its  genius  and  which  gives  every 
man  the  liberty  of  choosing  those  who  shall  repre- 
sent him  and  of  holding  them  to  account.  It  was 
an  old-time  saying — as  old  as  the  Huguenots  them- 
selves— " The. Huguenots  are  all  republicans."  The 
hierarchy  of  Rome  saw  this,  and  so  did  the  kings 
of  France,  who  were  under  the  control  of  Rome. 
Hence  the  bitter  and  bloody  persecutions  which 
were  inaugurated  against  the  Huguenots  and  which 
continued  for  two  hundred  years. 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  185 

My  fellow-men,  Calvinism  carries  in  it  republics, 
just  as  the  acorn  carries  in  it  fleets  of  sailing  ships. 
All  that  Calvinism  needs  is  just  what  the  acorn 
needs,  viz.,  soil  to  grow  in.  Give  the  acorn  growth 
and  the  ships  will  come.  Give  Calvinism  growth  and 
the  republics  will  come.  Give  Calvinism  Geneva 
and  you  will  have  a  republic ;  give  it  America  and 
you  will  have  a  republic ;  yes,  give  it  even  France 
itself  and  give  it  time  and  you  will  have  a  republic. 
Away  back  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  Hugue- 
nots converted  the  city  of  La  Rochelle  into  a  re- 
public which  for  years  lived  in  the  hearts  of  Ro- 
man Catholic,  monarchical  France.  Although  in 
the  course  of  time  La  Rochelle  was  leveled  to  the 
ground,  France  never  forgot  it.  It  left  more  or  less 
of  a  longing  for  another  republic  larger  and  more 
endurable.  That  longing  we  have  seen  realized  in 
our  own  day ;  it  is  realized  in  the  present  republic 
of  France.  M.  Grevy,  the  first  president  of  the 
new  republic,  in  1879,  in  publicly  giving  its  history, 
turned  to  the  surviving  Huguenots  and  used  these 
words:  "  The  Huguenot  church  is  the  mother  of 
modern  democracy."  That  was  a  tribute  to  Cal- 
vinism. M.  Grevy  might  have  enlarged  ;  he  might 
have  particularized ;  he  might  have  pointed  to  the 
new  system  of  public  education  which  is  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  French  republic,  and  have  given 
the  Huguenots  credit  for  that,  for  the  public  schools 
of  France  were  instituted  largely  through  the  in- 


186    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

fluence   and   labors   of    the   Huguenot  statesman, 
Guizot. 

I  cannot  relate  here  in  detail  the  persecutions 
to  which  the  Huguenots  were  subjected  during  the 
two  hundred  years  prior  to  the  American  Republic. 
If  I  entered  into  details  I  should  have  to  give  you 
ten  thousand  touching  stories  of  woe,  in  which 
tender  women  and  timid,  tiny  children,  equally 
with  brave-hearted  men,  rose  to  the  dignity  of 
moral  heroes. 

My  fellow-men,  there  are  centuries  of  suffering 
and  struggle  back  of  our  liberties.  They  cost  whole 
generations  of  self-denial  and  patience  and  forti- 
tude and  sore  experience.  A  people  cannot  rise 
from  serfage  to  best  sovereignty  in  a  day ;  the 
training  of  generations  cannot  be  fire-cast  at  will. 

The  persecutions  of  the  fathers  whom  we  honor 
to-night  began  by  a  prohibition  of  the  assembly 
of  their  General  Synod,  which  was  nothing  less  than 
the  congress  of  a  religious  republic  where  the  think- 
ing men  of  the  Huguenots  were  trained  to  free 
thought  and  equal  rights  and  the  principles  of  rep- 
resentation and  the  exercise  of  religious  freedom. 
When  these  things  are  put  into  a  man's  religion 
they  will  soon  find  their  way  out  into  a  man's  pol- 
itics. Civil  liberty  and  religious  liberty  are  insep- 
arable. Hence  the  French  Jesuits  raised  the  cry, 
"  Crush  these  things  out  of  the  religion  of  the  Hu- 
guenots!    Crush  out  the  Huguenots  themselves!" 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  187 

No  Huguenot  synod  was  allowed  to  assemble  for 
two  hundred  years.  Before  they  could  meet  Na- 
poleon III.  had  to  fall  and  the  present  French  re- 
public had  to  be  established.  To-day  that  synod 
does  meet,  and  it  legislates  for  one  million  Hugue- 
nots. 

The  persecutions  which  followed  the  hostile  cry 
of  the  Jesuits  culminated  in  three  marked  historical 
events :  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  IX.,  1572  ;  the  siege  and  demoli- 
tion of  the  republic  of  La  Rochelle  under  Cardinal 
Richelieu  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.,  1628;  and 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.,  1685.  I  can  speak  now  only  of 
the  first  and  last  of  these. 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  ordered 
by  Charles  IX.,  who  was  the  tool  of  others.  It 
was  radical,  cowardly,  and  cunning.  It  meant  the 
extermination  of  the  Huguenot  cause,  root  and 
branch.  It  equaled  the  atrocities  of  Nero  and 
Caligula.  It  was  the  slaughter  of  the  unsuspect- 
ing and  unarmed.  The  streets  of  Paris  ran  blood. 
Seventy  thousand  of  the  purest  characters  of  the 
land  were  butchered  in  cold  blood.  Protestants 
everywhere  were  horrified.  John  Knox  delivered 
this  philippic  to  the  French  ambassador  to  Britain  : 
"  Go  tell  your  master  that  God's  vengeance  will 
never  depart  from  him  nor  from  his  house.  His 
name  shall  remain  an  execration  to  posterity,  and 


188    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

no  heir  of  his  shall  enjoy  the  kingdom  in  peace." 
That  sounds  like  a  message  from  one  of  the  old 
Hebrew  prophets.  But  it  was  literally  fulfilled. 
Charles  died  heirless  and  in  ah  agony  of  remorse 
and  despair,  with  the  thought  of  the  massacre  tor- 
menting him  and  setting  his  soul  on  fire  with  the 
fire  of  hell.  This  festival  of  blood  was  looked  upon 
as  a  grand  triumph  by  the  head  of  the  papacy. 
He  issued  a  medal  to  celebrate  it,  and  had  all  the 
bells  of  Rome  ring  a  Jubilate.  Was  that  the  true 
spirit  of  Rome?  If  so,  then  I  ask,  has  Rome 
changed?  If  so,  in  what  respect?  In  nature  or 
simply  in  manner  ?  In  purpose  or  merely  in  policy  ? 
Has  it  repudiated  its  old  self?  Where?  When? 
How?  History  is  terribly  against  it,  and  we  have 
a  right  to  demand  the  unquestionable  evidence  of 
a  change.  When  that  massacre  was  celebrated 
Rome  had  crowns  at  her  feet.  Now,  to-day,  there 
is  not  a  single  sovereign  in  her  councils.  The 
nations  have  changed  ;  has  Rome  changed  ? 

The  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis 
XIV.  came  later,  and  as  a  piece  of  diabolism  it 
equaled  the  massacre.  It  was  preceded  by  such 
acts  as  these :,  a  decree  that  a  Protestant  boy  of 
fourteen  and  a  girl  of  twelve  might  lawfully  re- 
nounce the  faith  of  their  parents;  finally  the  age 
of  conversion  was  fixed  at  seven.  A  child  that 
could  be  coaxed  to  say  Ave  Maria  was  instantly 
claimed  as  a  Catholic,  and  taken  from  its  home  and 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  189 

placed  in  the  schools  in  the  hands  of  the  priests  to 
be  brought  up  as  such.  That  was  a  direct  strike 
at  the  family.  That  was  the  parochial  school  grown 
ripe.  Preaching  was  forbidden;  the  singing  of 
psalms  was  forbidden.  Catholics  owing  Protes- 
tants were  given  three  years'  extension.  Protes- 
tant seamstresses  were  forbidden  to  work  for 
themselves,  and  thus  left  to  the  mercy  of  Catholic 
employers.  Decrees  were  issued  which  took  away 
the  trades  and  the  professions  and  the  means  of  a 
livelihood  from  all  Protestants.  Then  came  the 
thunderbolt  of  revocation,  which  left  no  hope  for 
a  single  Huguenot  in  all  France.  The  churches 
were  closed  and  leveled  to  the  ground.  The  pastors 
were  given  just  fifteen  days  to  clear  the  country. 
Then  followed  the  Inquisition,  the  breaking  of  hu- 
man bodies  on  the  wheel,  imprisonment,  servitude 
in  the  galleys,  nameless  and  shameless  indignities, 
banishment,  and  death  by  the  thousands.  I  hear 
you  cry,  "  Tell  tis.no  more  of  this;  is  there  no  di- 
vine Providence?"  Yes,  there  is  a  divine  Provi- 
dence. Divine  Providence  is  seen  in  this :  this 
inhumanity  was  the  seed  that  grew  the  French 
Revolution,  which  shed  the  blood  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  in  the  domain  of  France  as  though  it  had 
been  so  much  water.  Catholic  France  paid  for  all 
this  in  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution.  She 
sowed  the  wind,  she  reaped  the  whirlwind. 

The  romance  of  Providence  is  seen  on  other  lines, 


190    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

which  turned  these  very  events  against  Rome  and 
made  them  issue  in  the  upbuilding  of  Protestan- 
tism, which  they  were  intended  to  destroy.  Hugue- 
not fugitives  by  the  thousands  flocked  to  Protestant 
Holland  and  Protestant  Prussia  and  Protestant 
England,  and  built  up  these  Protestant  powers, 
transferring  to  them  the  industries  and  trades  and 
professions  which  hitherto  had  made  France  great. 
Follow  these  refugees  in  England,  for  example ; 
you  will  find  their  descendants  in  the  very  fore- 
most families  of  that  great  nation.  Some  of  them 
married  into  the  nobility.  There  is  Huguenot 
blood  coursing  even  in  the  veins  of  Victoria,  the 
Queen  of  England.  As  her  offspring  married  into 
the  royal  family  of  Germany,  there  is  Huguenot 
blood  in  the  emperor  of  that  great  kingdom.  If 
you  will  follow  little  Brandenburg  of  Prussia,  which 
opened  its  gates  to  the  Huguenot  exiles,  and  if  you 
will  mark  what  the  exiles  did  for  it,  and  then  what 
part  it  played  in  bringing  into  existence  the  present 
German  empire,  the  great  Protestant  force  of  the 
European  continent,  you  will  find  a  very  romance 
of  Providence,  and  will  see  how  France,  by  issuing 
the  decree  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
was  casting  the  guns  that  did  such  dread  execution 
in  her  humiliation  during  the  late  Franco-Prussian 
War. 

But  I  must  get  closer  to  the  American  Republic. 
This  cruel  treatment  of  the  Huguenots  in  their  na- 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  191 

tive  land  has  a  direct  relation  to  it.  These  ante- 
cedent events  in  the  lands  across  the  seas  were 
nothing  less  than  the  penning  of  the  first  words  of 
the  American  Declaration  of  Independence.  They 
were  the  far-off  drum-beat  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution. They  were  the  making  and  the  drilling 
of  the  coming  American  soldiers,  patriots,  and 
statesmen.  Out  of  these  crucial  fires  came  the 
sires,  and  from  the  sires  fcame  the  sons  who  were 
the  men  of  Lexington  and  of  Yorktown. 

Do  you  inquire  of  me  how  the  Huguenots  served 
the  American  Republic  and  helped  in  its  upbuild- 
ing?    I  answer,  they  did  this  in  a  twofold  way: 

First,  they  served  America  abroad  and  by  antici- 
pation. 

Second,  they  served  America  on  American  soil. 

In  speaking  of  the  service  which  the  Huguenots 
rendered  to  the  American  Republic  abroad  and  by 
anticipation  I  shall  confine  myself  to  one  line,  viz., 
the  line  of  service  which  they  rendered  through 
and  by  means  of  England.  The  American  Re- 
public came  directly  and  largely  from  England. 
Because  England  was  Protestant  we  are  Protestant. 
If  our  liberties  came  from  Protestantism,  then  the 
power  that  worked  to  make  England  Protestant 
served  us.  The  refugee  Huguenots  were  that 
power.  They  served  us  abroad  by  serving  Eng- 
land. They  helped  to  make  Protestant  England, 
which  made  America  Protestant. 


192    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Let  me  give  you  two  incidents  illustrative  of  the 
way  the  Huguenots  served  England. 

The  first  incident  is  the  conflict  between  James 
II.  and  William,  Prince  of  Orange — 'William  III. 
If  James  succeeds,  England  will  be  Catholic ;  if 
William  succeeds,  England  will  be  Protestant.  The 
fate  of  Protestantism  is  trembling  in  the  balance. 
The  little  army  that  invades  England  under  Wil- 
liam III.  wins  the  day,  and  that  little  army  has 
as  its  backbone  the  Huguenot  refugees.  Michelet, 
the  great  historian,  says,  "  Amid  the  chilling  delays 
on  the  part  of  the  British  people  the  army  of  Wil- 
liam remained  firm,  and  it  was  the  Calvinistic  ele- 
ment in  it,  the  Calvinistic  Huguenots,  that  made 
it  firm."  There  stood  men  who  had  lost  their  all 
on  earth,  who  had  no  hearth  but  the  ground.  They 
were  overshadowed  now  by  the  flag  of  Orange, 
which  was  the  symbol  of  their  principles,  and  they 
would  have  died  over  and  over  again  rather  than 
give  way  to  James.  Around  that  little  army  rallied 
the  Protestant  force  of  Britain,  and  the  royal  power 
slipped  from  the  grip  of  Romanism.  James  fled 
to  France.  But  the  struggle  was  not  over.  Louis 
XIV.  of  France,  who  issued  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  received  James.  He  was  morti- 
fied to  think  that  his  own  refugees  were  the  soul 
of  this  defeat.  He  determined  to  retrieve  it.  He 
fitted  up  an  army  and  put  James  at  the  head  of  it. 
This  army  invaded  Britain,    It  landed  in  the  north 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  193 

of  Ireland.  There  another  battle  was  fought,  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  James  was  again  and 
finally  defeated.  Who  won  that  battle,  the  famous 
battle  of  the  Boyne,  which  carried  in  it  so  much 
of  the  future  and  gave  to  Protestantism  the  pos- 
session of  the  British  throne?  A  Huguenot.  It 
was  the  Huguenot  Schronberg  who  commanded 
the  Protestant  forces  that  day,  and  although  he 
fell  in  the  battle,  he  left  the  kingdom  in  the  hands 
of  William  III.  Thus  it  pleased  the  God  of  battles 
to  use  the  persecuted  and  dispersed  and  down- 
trodden French  refugees  to  turn  the  helm  of  the 
mightiest  matters  of  destiny  and  to  share  in  the 
glory  of  His  providence  over  nations  and  over 
the  march  of  truth. 

England  is  now  ready  to  bring  its  Protestantism 
with  its  republican  principles  over  to  the  New  World. 
This  it  does.  And  it  here  has  another  battle  with 
Romanism.  It  has  to  meet  the  same  foe  that  it  met 
by  the  river  Boyne,  viz.,  the  foe  who  persecuted 
the  Huguenots.  Rome  determined  to  have  this 
New  World,  and  so  through  Spain  it  took  posses- 
sion of  South  America,  and  through  France  it  took 
possession  of  North  America.  As  far  back  as  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers  at  Plymouth  Rock 
Cardinal  Richelieu  founded  New  France  in  North 
America.  He  made  this  law  :  "  Everybody  settling 
in  New  France  must  be  a  Catholic."  None  of  the 
hated  Huguenots  were  to  be  allowed  to  enter.    This 


194    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

was  done  to  checkmate  Protestant  England.  The 
English  and  French  met  at  Quebec  and  fought  out 
the  question,  To  whom  shall  America  belong?  In 
the  great  battle  of  Quebec  Montcalm  led  the 
French,  General  Wolfe  led  the  English.  Montcalm 
fought  for  the  old  regime,  Wolfe  for  the  House  of 
Commons  ;  Montcalm  fought  for  allegiance  to  king 
and  priest,  Wolfe  for  the  habeas  corpus  and  free 
inquiry ;  Montcalm  fought  for  th,e  past,  Wolfe  for 
the  future ;  Montcalm  fought  for  Louis  XV.,  Wolfe 
for  George  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Although  both  men  were  killed  in  that  battle, 
Montcalm  lost  and  Wolfe  won.  With  the  triumph 
of  Wolfe  commenced  the  history  of  the  United 
States. 

France  should  have  won  that  battle ;  she  should 
have  held  America  for  Rome.  She  had  the  ad- 
vantage. She  had  Quebec  as  her  Gibraltar  and 
she  had  a  chain  of  forts  from  Quebec  through  the 
heart  of  the  country  down  through  the  Mississippi 
valley  to  the  very  city  of  New  Orleans.  She  had 
also  allies  in  many  tribes  of  Indians  whom  she 
converted  to  Catholicism.  She  might  have  won 
that  battle,  and  she  would  have  won  that  battle,  if 
— and  the  Huguenots  were  in  that  "if" — if  she 
had  only  used  the  forces  against  England  which 
she  used  in  persecuting  and  driving  out  the  Hugue- 
nots from  the  home  land.  One  historian  says  that 
the  persecution  of  the  Huguenots  in  France  called 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  195 

from  America,  the  important  center  of  conflict,  the 
forces  that  would  inevitably  have  torn  from  the 
American  Protestants  the  fair  heritage  they  now 
have.  My  fellow-men,  we  gained  our  heritage  at 
no  less  a  price  than  the  martyrdom  of  the  Hugue- 
nots. They  served  America  by  occupying  and 
keeping  away  the  forces  of  France  which  would 
have  crushed  America. 

I  am  ready  now  to  speak  of  the  service  which 
the  Huguenots  rendered  the  American  Republic  on 
American  soil. 

The  difficulty  in  tracing  the  Huguenots  in  direct 
American  history  comes  from  this :  Often  they 
changed  their  names  into  the  language  of  the  coun- 
tries to  which  they  fled,  and  ever  after  were  known 
by  their  translated  names ;  and  often  they  married 
and  intermarried  with  the  peoples  of  these  coun- 
tries. An  example  or  two  of  the  way  they  changed 
their  names  will  show  what  I  mean.  M.  Le  Blanc, 
if  he  fled  into  Holland,  changed  his  name  into  the 
Dutch  and  became  known  as  Mr.  Dewitt;  or  if  he 
went  into  England  he  changed  his  name  into  Mr. 
White.  M.  Letellier  became  Mr.  Tailor.  M.  Le 
Roy  became  Mr.  King. 

Coming  over  from  Holland  with  Dutch  names, 
and  from  England  with  English  names,  it  is  hard 
to  distinguish  the  Huguenots  from  the  Dutch  or 
from  the  English.  The  interblending  of  races  is 
always   destructive  of   genealogy.      In  all  of   the 


196    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICA  ft  REPUBLIC. 

makers  of  America  which  I  have  discussed  up  to 
this  point  in  this  course  of  Forefathers'  addresses 
there  have  been  veins  of  Huguenot  blood.  Since 
I  wrote  the  Scotch  Forefathers'  address  I  have 
come  across  the  annals  of  the  province  of  Ulster, 
and  have  found  that  two  or  three  thousand  Hugue- 
not refugees  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Scotch  of 
Ulster  and  became  part  and  parcel  of  that  people, 
and  thus  came  to  America  in  the  exodus  from 
Ulster.  We  know  that  there  were  Huguenots  in 
the  exodus  of  Hollanders  who  founded  the  New 
Netherlands.  Peter  Minuit,  the  first  governor  of 
that  colony  where  New  York  now  stands,  was 
probably  one  of  them,  as  his  name  shows.  The 
first  child  born  in  the  New  Netherlands  was  a 
Huguenot  child.  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  ruled  old 
New  York,  was  married  to  a  Huguenot. 

Take  the  colony  which  has  always  been  supposed 
to  be  the  purest  of  all — that  is,  the  purest  from  an 
English  standpoint — the  Plymouth  Colony,  which 
came  over  in  the  Mayflower,  There  was  Hugue- 
not blood  in  that!  The  most  beautiful  woman 
who  sailed  in  the  Mayfloiver  was  a  Huguenot — she 
who  turned  the  head  of  Miles  Standish  and  won 
the  heart  of  John  Alden,  and  who  to-day,  as  she 
walks  the  pages  of  Longfellow,  captivates  every 
man  in  America.  She  is  our  model  for  wife  and 
mother.  She  is  the  ideal  of  our  young  men  for 
their  sister,  and   their  ideal  also  for  some  other 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  ID? 

body's  sister.  I  mean  Priscilla  Mullens.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  the  Huguenot,  William  Molines, 
a  passenger  on  the  Mayflozuer,  whose  name  was 
corrupted  by  the  clumsy  lips  of  the  Nottingham- 
shire and  Yorkshire  yeomen  from  Molines  into 
plain,  homely  Mullens.  We  always  supposed  that 
the  beautiful  Priscilla  was  an  English  Puritan 
maiden,  and  yet  she  has  been  a  puzzle  to  us  as 
an  English  Puritan  girl.  I  never  saw  an  English 
Puritan  girl  quite  as  chipper,  nor  one  who  played 
her  cards  as  Priscilla  played  hers.  English  Puritan 
girls  as  a  rule  are  sedate,  and  fairly  stiff  and  cold 
with  propriety  when  being  courted.  They  always 
wait  until  they  are  asked  out  and  out  before  they 
say  "Yes."  They  do  not  even  give  themselves  away 
by  a  single  blush.  A  fellow-townsman,  Horace 
Graves,  in  a  bright  and  interesting  article  in  the  De- 
cember number  of  the  "  New  England  Magazine," 
1894,  is  our  teacher  here.  I  quote  from  his  article, 
not  verbatim,  but  from  memory :  "  It  has  always 
been  a  source  of  wonder  to  us  men  that  an  English 
Puritan  girl  could  have  had  the  ready  wit  to  give 
John  Alden  '  the  tip  '  that  released  him  from  his 
ambiguous  wooing  and  herself  from  the  domination 
of  Miles  Standish,  the  widower,  the  fierce  little 
captain  who  had  killed  and  buried  one  good 
woman  already.  How  blind  we  have  been  to  the 
Gallic  coquetry  of  Priscilla,  which  belonged  to  her 
national  blood — a  coquetry  which  could  hold  on  to 


198    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

old  Miles  until  she  had  secured  young  John !  I 
tell  you,  young  men  and  old  men  who  so  much 
admire  Priscilla,  she  was  a  worthy  progenitor  of 
the  American  girl,  who  knows  how  to  take  care 
of  herself." 

While  the  Huguenots  came  to  our  land  through 
intermarriage  with  other  people,  and  with  changed 
names  and  incognito,  they  came  not  in  that  way 
only;  they  came  as  Huguenots,  with  their  own 
names  and  with  their  national  blood  unmixed.  It 
was  the  pure  Huguenots  who  founded  such  colonies 
as  the  colony  of  Oxford,  Mass.,  the  place  where 
the  city  of  Worcester  now  stands ;  and  the  colony 
of  New  Rochelle,  off  Long  Island  Sound ;  and  the 
colony  of  New  Paltz,  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  be- 
tween the  Catskillsand  the  Shawangunk  Mountains. 
Charles  II.  sent  a  colony  to  South  Carolina,  where 
afterward  there  came  sixteen  thousand  Huguenots. 
William  III.  sent  a  colony  to  Virginia,  which  settled 
near  the  James  River.  Thousands  of  the  Hugue- 
nots came  to  the  city  of  New  York.  Long  Island 
was  first  settled  by  them.  Bedloe's  Island,  which 
holds  the  Bartholdi  statue,  the  gift  of  the  French 
Republic  to  the  American  Republic,  was  owned  by 
and  named  after  one  of  the  Huguenots.  They  did 
not  care  to  perpetuate  their  nationality  here,  and 
being  of  a  social  nature,  they  allowed  themselves 
to  be  absorbed  into  the  population  of  the  Republic. 
But  they  made  their  mark,  and  made  it  indelibly. 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  199 

For,  as  John  Fiske  says,  "  In  determining  the 
character  of  a  community  one  hundred  selected 
men  and  women  are  more  potent  than  a  thousand 
men  and  women  taken  at  random." 

Nowhere  is  their  influence  brought  out  better 
than  in  an  article  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  entitled 
"  The  Distribution  of  Ability  in  America."  This 
article  is  modeled  after  an  article  which  appeared 
in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century,"  called  "  The  Dis- 
tribution of  Ability  in  England."  Henry  Cabot 
Lodge  gets  the  facts  upon  which  he  bases  his  tab- 
ulation from  Appleton's  "  Encyclopedia  of  Biog- 
raphy," a  six-volume  work.  In  this  article  you 
can  see  at  a  glance  the  men  who  fought  the  battles 
of  the  country,  governed  the  country,  produced 
the  literature  and  art  and  science  of  the  country, 
built  up  its  industries,  gave  it  its  inventions,  and 
made  its  history.  He  groups  them  by  States  and 
then  he  groups  them  by  races.  The  race  rate  runs 
in  this  order,  and  it  grades  the  races :  the  English, 
the  Scotch-Irish,  the  German,  the  Huguenots,  the 
Scotch  pure  and  simple,  and  the  Dutch.  Lodge 
says,  "  I  believe  that,  in  proportion  to  their  num- 
bers, the  Huguenots  produced  and  gave  to  the 
American  Republic  more  men  of  ability  than  any 
other  race."  He  contrasts  them  with  the  Germans, 
whom  they  outstrip  in  the  production  of  fine 
American  personalities,  and  he  explains  the  reason 
of  the  difference.     The  Germans  settled  in  com- 


,../ 


200    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

munities  and  separated  themselves  from  the  outside 
world.  The  Huguenots  at  once  merged  themselves 
into  the  body  of  the  people  and  became  thoroughly 
Americanized.  From  all  this  he  draws  this  whole- 
some moral :  "  The  people  who  succeed  in  our  Re- 
public are  the  people  who  become  most  grandly 
and  quickly  and  thoroughly  American."  This 
should  be  so!      Make  it  so!      Keep  it  so! 

When  we  come  to  the  great  Revolutionary 
struggle  the  Huguenots  grandly  hold  their  own  and 
do  their  part.  Faneuil  Hall  played  a  part  in  the 
American  Revolution.  It  was  called  ''the  cradle 
of  liberty."  Its  four  walls  have  heard  the  advo- 
cacy of  every  great  cause  pertaining  to  the  up- 
building of  America.  Faneuil  Hall  was  the  gift  of 
a  Huguenot  and  bears  his  name.  I  called  it  the 
proudest  day  of  my  life  when  I  first  spoke  in  Faneuil 
Hall  with  Phillips  Brooks  and  the  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  and  from  that  platform  looked  at 
the  pictured  faces  of  Faneuil  and  Webster  and 
Adams  and  Hancock  and  Phillips  and  a  score  of 
others  like  them.  The  thought  that  my  voice  was 
echoing  where  their  voices  once  echoed,  and  that  I 
pleaded  a  cause  which  they  would  have  pleaded  had 
they  been  heret  almost  overpowered  me  with  rev- 
erence. I  said  to  myself,  "  This  is  honor  enough 
for  a  lifetime."  I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  the 
story  of  the  gift  of  that  hall  and  relate  the  grand 
patriotic  uses  to  which  it  has  been  put.     There  is 


THE   HUGUENOTS.  201 

no  quainter  story  in  our  annals,  and  no  story  that 
has  greater  national  thrill.  Just  as  the  holy  temple 
stood  in  Jerusalem,  a  witness  for  God,  a  monitor 
to  the  conscience  of  man,  a  talking  embodiment 
of  all  that  was  grand  in  the  Hebrew's  past,  so 
Faneuil  Hall  stands  in  our  Republic,  great  with 
the  greatness  of  the  grand  men  who  have  conse- 
crated its  platform,  and  strong  with  the  strength 
of  the  magnificent  and  triumphant  causes  which 
have  been  advocated  within  its  walls,  and  living 
with  the  intense  life  which  comes  from  the  moral 
and  intellectual  and  spiritual  electricity  which  has 
been  stored  up  in  every  brick  and  timber  of  its 
historic  structure.  Faneuil  Hall  stands  in  Boston, 
the  old  city  of  the  American  Revolution,  a  con- 
stant rebuke  to  all  that  is  low  and  degrading  in 
national  life,  and  a  constant  inspiration  to  every 
brilliant  conception  in  the  American  mind  that 
makes  for  patriotism. 

Among  the  forces  that  worked  in  creating  our 
Republic  was  the  Colonial  Congress.  It  issued 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  it  educated 
the  people  into  the  acceptance  of  that  Declaration 
of  this  Congress.  William  Pitt  in  Parliament  said, 
"  I  have  read  Thucydides  and  have  studied  and 
admired  the  master  states  of  the  world,  but  I  must 
declare  that  for  solidity,  force,  sagacity,  and  wis- 
dom of  conclusion  under  difficult  circumstances, 
no  nation  or  body  of  men  stands  in  advance  of  the 


202    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

General  Congress  of  Philadelphia.  All  attempts 
to  impose  despotism  upon  such  men  will  be  vain. 
We  shall  be  fbrced  ultimately  to  retract.  Let  us 
retract  while  we  can,  not  when  we  must."  Of  this 
body,  thus  eulogized  by  the  foremost  statesman  of 
Europe,  a  Huguenot  was  the  first  president.  Out  of 
its  seven  presidents  no  less  than  three  were  Hugue- 
nots— Henry  Laurens,  John  Jay, and  EliasBoudinot. 
Henry  Laurens  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C. 
He  was  an  American  patriot  from  conviction. 
When  solicited  by  his  friends  not  to  take  part  in 
the  American  conflict  he  replied,  "  I  am  deter- 
mined to  stand  or  fall  with  my  country."  Besides 
being  president  of  Congress  he  was  chosen  min- 
ister to  Holland  to  represent  the  colonies.  On  his 
way  to  Holland  he  was  captured  by  the  British 
and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London.  While 
there  he  was  offered  his  freedom  if  he  would  give 
up  the  American  cause.  To  this  he  replied,  with 
the  old  heroism,  "  I  will  never  thus  tarnish  my 
name  with  infamy,  nor  disgrace  my  family."  He 
was  one  of  the  four  Americans  who  drew  up  and 
signed  the  treaty  of  peace  in  Paris  which  secured 
for  the  thirteen  colonies  their  independence  and 
placed  them  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  The 
distinguished  four  who  secured  this  treaty  were 
Franklin,  Adams,  Jay,  and  Laurens;  and  Jay  and 
Laurens,  the  peers  of  Franklin  and  Adams,  were 
Huguenots. 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  203 

No  name  in  American  history  has  greater  prom- 
inence and  honor  than  the  name  of  John  Jay,  the 
first  chief  justice  of  the  nation,  and  president  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society,  and  president  of  the  earliest 
society  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  and 
signer  of  the  treaty  of  peace  which  brought  the 
Revolutionary  War  to  a  successful  finale. 

To  the  names  of  Laurens  and  Jay  and  Boudinot 
must  be  added  those  of  Gabriel  Mannigault,  who 
advanced  large  loans  to  the  colonial  government 
and  kept  it  from  bankruptcy,  and  Francis  Marion, 
who  was  a  noted  general  in  the  Revolutionary 
army.  Both  of  these  were  Huguenots.  We  must 
add  also  the  name  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who 
was  a  Huguenot  on  his  mother's  side.  Of  Hamil- 
ton John  Fiske  writes,  "  Of  all  the  young  men  of 
that  day,  save,  perhaps,  William  Pitt,  the  most  pre- 
cocious was  Alexander  Hamilton.  So  great  was 
his  genius  for  organization  that  in  many  essential 
respects  the  American  government  is  moving  to- 
day along  the  lines  which  he  was  the  first  to  mark 
out.  In  the  financial  department  he  has  been 
equaled  by  no  other  American  statesman  save 
Albert  Gallatin."  But  who  was  Albert  Gallatin, 
the  peer  of  Hamilton?  He  was  another  Hugue- 
not, and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  during 
Washington's  administration. 

I  could  make  this  address  an  address  of  nothing 


204    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

but  noted  Huguenot  names,  so  many  are  the  emi- 
nent Huguenots  in  our  American  life.  Theirs 
are  names  such  as  these :  the  Bowdoins,  who  gave 
us  Bowdoin  College  ;  the  Gallaudet,  who  pioneered 
in  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb;  Christo- 
pher Robert,  the  New  York  merchant  who  built  the 
college  bearing  his  name  at  Constantinople ;  the 
Bayards,  the  Marquands,  the  Higginses,  the  Vas- 
sars,  the  Durands,  the  Bethunes,  the  Vincents,  the 
Ballous,  the  De  Lanceys,  the  Edwardses ;  the  mar- 
tyred President  Garfield ;  and  hundreds  of  other 
names  with  an  equal  luster. 

But  I  am  speaking  now  of  Revolutionary  times 
and  must  confine  myself  to  these.  In  the  great 
cause  of  the  American  Revolution  the  Huguenot 
patriots  were  in  it  from  alpha  to  omicron  and  from 
omicron  to  omega.  They  played  a  conspicuous 
part  both  at  the  beginning  of  it  and  at  the  middle 
of  it  and  at  the  close  of  it.  At  the  very  beginning 
of  the  American  Revolution  it  was  Paul  Revere, 
the  son  of  a  Huguenot  refugee,  who  took  that 
famous  ride  from  Boston  to  Concord  and  waked 
up  the  farmers  and  townspeople,  and  warned  them 
that  the  British  were  coming  to  seize  the  stores 
which  they  had  gathered  and  locked  away  in  view 
of  possible  war  emergencies.  The  British  came, 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  the  first  battle  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  was  fought,  and  the  American 
farmers  won.     That  midnight  cry  of  Paul  Revere, 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  205 

the  Huguenot,  awoke  the  American  people  to  a 
conflict  the  result  of  which  was  the  birth  of  this 
great  Republic. 

At  the  middle  of  Jhe  Revolution  it  was  a  force 
of  Huguenots,  with  the  Scotch  from  North  Caro- 
lina, under  Colonel  William  Campbell  from  Virginia, 
which  won  the  strategic  battle  of  Kings  Mountain, 
the  turning  event  of  the  Revolutionary  contest  in 
the  South. 

At  the  very  close  of  the  American  Revolution 
it  was  the  son  of  a  Huguenot  who  drew  up  the 
stipulations  for  the  surrender  of  Yorktown.  York- 
town  was  the  grand  end.  This  Huguenot  was 
John  Laurens,  the  son  of  the  first  president  of  the 
Colonial  Congress.  As  an  officer  in  the  American 
army  he  took  one  of  the  strong  redoubts  of  York- 
town,  while  Rochambeau  took  a  second  and  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  took  a  third.  With  these  redoubts 
taken  there  was  nothing  for  the  British  general, 
Cornwallis,  to  do  but  to  surrender.  To  young 
Laurens,  a  bright  lawyer,  Washington  assigned  the 
task  of  drawing  up  the  articles  of  surrender,  and 
these  Cornwallis  signed  and  was  made  a  prisoner 
of  war.  The  romance  in  this  surrender  was  this : 
At  the  time  young  Laurens  was  drawing  up  these 
articles  his  father,  Henry  Laurens,  was  still  a 
prisoner  of  war  in  the  Tower  of  London.  Young 
Laurens  was  making  Cornwallis  a  prisoner,  and  by 
this  he  was  not  only  serving  his  country,  but  he 


206    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

was  serving  in  a  most  signal  way  his  imprisoned 
father.  For  when  the  time  came  to  exchange  the 
prisoners  of  war  Cornwallis  was  exchanged  for 
Henry  Laurens,  and  Henry  Laurens,  bidding  fare- 
well to  the  Tower  of  London,  went  direct  to  Paris, 
that  there,  with  Franklin  and  Adams  and  Jay,  he 
might  sign  the  treaty  of  peace  and  thus  make  the 
American  Republic  a  fact  for  all  time. 

Such  were  the  Huguenots:  a  people  with  an  open 
Bible ;  who  fostered  popular  education  ;  who  fought 
absolutism  in  all  forms,  civil  and  ecclesiastical, 
wherever  found ;  who  loved  a  large-thoughted, 
republican  church ;  and  who  were  willing  to  pay 
a  great  price  for  a  great  thing ;  who  paid  their  all 
for  liberty.  They  were  a  great  people  because  they 
companionated  with  a  great  God.  Well  may  we 
pray  the  prayer  taught  us  concerning  them  by  that 
sweet  daughter  of  the  Huguenots,  Mrs.  Sigour- 
ney : 

"  On  all  who  bear 
Their  name  or  lineage  may  their  mantle  rest : 
That  firmness  for  the  truth,  that  calm  content 
With  simple  pleasures,  that  unswerving  trust  in 
Trial,  adversity,  and  death,  which  cast 
Such  healthful  leaven  'mid  the  elements 
That  peopled  the  New  World." 

As  we  leave  the  study  of  this  evening  we  do  so 
with  this  conviction :  that  it  is  men  who  make  the 
nation.  They  constitute  its  wealth ;  they  carry  in 
them  its  strength ;  they  determine  its  future.    Men 


THE  HUGUENOTS.  207 

— men  of  ideas,  men  of  faith,  men  of  hope,  men  of 
pure  loves  and  of  pure  lives,  men  of  sacrifice,  men 
of  conscience,  men  who  love  their  country,  men 
who  walk  day  by  day  with  their  hand  in  God's — 
these  are  they  who  have  made  us  strong  as  a 
Republic  and  who  keep  us  strong.  It  is  men  who 
make  the  nation. 

"  Ouida,"  in  one  of  her  stories,  entitled  "  A  Dog 
of  Flanders  " — a  story  which  for  beauty  and  pathos 
and  pureness  is  excelled  nowhere — puts  this  thought 
in  a  fine  way.  She  illustrates  the  thought  by 
showing  how  Rubens  made  Antwerp,  with  its 
sweet-toned,  ringing  bells.  She  writes:  "  The 
greatness  of  the  mighty  master  rests  upon  Ant- 
werp, and  wherever  one  turns  in  its  narrow  streets 
his  glory  lies  therein  and  transfigures  every  mean 
thing.  This  city,  which  is  the  tomb  of  Rubens, 
still  lives  to  us  through  him  and  him  alone.  With- 
out Rubens  what  were  Antwerp?  A  muddy, 
dusky,  bustling  mart  which  no  man  would  ever 
care  to  look  upon  save  the  traders  who  do  busjr 
ness  upon  its  wharfs.  With  Rubens,  to  the  whole 
world  of  man  it  is  a  sacred  name,  a  sacred  soil — a 
Bethlehem  where  a  god  of  art  saw  light,  a  Gol- 
gotha where  a  god  of  art  lies  dead."  Having  said 
this,  she  turns  to  the  world  and  says,  "  O  nations ! 
closely  should  you  treasure  your  great  men,  for  by 
them  alone  will  the  future  know  of  you." 

What  America  needs  above  all  things  to-day  is 


208    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC, 

this :  a  new  consecration  to  that  manhood  and  that 
womanhood  which  in  the  beginning  made  this 
Republic.  It  needs  and  it  should  earnestly  seek 
the  reproduction  of  the  civil  fathers.  It  should 
seek  for  sons  and  daughters  who  will  write  their 
names  with  the  pen  of  holy  deeds  side  by  side  with 
the  names  of  the  Virginians  and  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  Puritans  and  the  Hollanders  and  the  descen- 
dants of  John  Knox  and  the  Huguenots. 


VII. 

THE   QUAKERS;  OR,  IDEAL  CIVILIZATION. 


209 


VII. 

THE    QUAKERS;    OR,    IDEAL 
CIVILIZATION. 

We  are  apt  to  think  of  the  Quakers  as  a  people 
of  peculiarities ;  they  are  before  our  mind  as  men 
and  women  of  broad-brimmed  hats  and  poke-bon- 
nets, drab  coats  and  gray  dresses — a  curious  people 
of  slow  movements ;  a  demure  people,  who  are  the 
victims  of  their  own  virtues.  They  are  a  peculiar 
people,  but  behind  every  Quaker  peculiarity  there 
is  a  consistent  reason.  The  Quakers  are  more  than 
an  embodiment  of  oddities ;  they  are  an  embodi- 
ment of  great  principles  and  an  incarnation  of  a 
grand  life.  Both  their  principles  and  life  have  en- 
tered into  the  bone  and  sinew  of  our  Republic,  and 
both  are  still  necessary  for  the  realization  of  ulti- 
mate America.  The  reproduction  of  their  spirit 
and  purpose  by  American  citizens  will  make  real, 
by  and  by,  our  "  manifest  destiny." 

We  wish  to  look  at  this  destiny  as  it  exists  in 
germ  form  in  the  souls  of  our  Quaker  ancestors. 
There  is  nothing  more  interesting  or  inspiring  or 
213 


214    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

profitable  than  the  experience  of  those  great  souls 
who  have  helped  to  lead  tire  nations  up  the  heights 
of  civilization  and  into  the  advances  of  civic  life ; 
who  have  led  the  human  race  nearer  to  God  and 
into  genuine  and  abiding  liberty.  The  Quakers 
had  such  souls.  Such  souls  looked  out  of  the  clear 
and  striking  faces  of  George  Fox  and  William  Penn, 
Elizabeth  Fry  and  Lucretia  Mott.  Around  the 
lives  of  such  heroes  and  heroines  the  history  of  the 
world  has  turned  as  on  an  axis.  They  have  helped 
to  direct  the  main  currents  of  human  thought  in  the 
right  direction.  You  call  them  single  souls,  but 
they  have  multiplied  themselves  into  myriad  souls  ; 
they  have  become  a  people.  There  is  no  getting 
away  from  the  true  man  and  the  true  woman,  from 
the  single  soul,  if  you  would  get  at  the  origin  and 
history  of  great  movements.  The  tendency  of 
scientific  study  in  our  time  has  perhaps  led  us  to 
undervalue  the  influence  of  great  souls.  History 
has  been  believed  to  advance  according  to  definite 
laws  over  which  neither  human  genius  nor  human 
freedom  has  exerted  any  appreciable  influence. 
Mr.  Buckle  explains  national  character  as  the  re- 
sult of  circumstances,  and  he  claims  that  history 
and  biography  are  wholly  different  in  their  sphere ; 
yet  the  fact  remains  that  persons  are  the  ruling  cen- 
ters in  history.  Take  such  personalities  as  Augus- 
tine and  Luther  and  Fox  and  Penn  out  of  history  and 
the  course  of  history  ceases  to  be  intelligible.    Be- 


THE   QUAKERS.  215 

cause  this  is  so,  we  emphasize  in  this  course  of  study 
the  names  of  the  great  men  who  stand  chief  among 
the  races  and  peoples  who  form  the  constituents  of 
our  Republic,  and  we  exalt  their  principles,  which 
form  the  bone  and  sinew  of  American  manhood. 

We  are  digging  up  the  past  for  the  instruction 
and  encouragement  of  the  present.  In  this  we  are 
acting  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  times.  This 
is  an  age  when  there  is  a  craze  for  digging  up  the 
past  and  making  it  a  study  and  a  story.  After 
eighteen  hundred  years  Pompeii  has  been  exca- 
vated ;  the  skeleton  of  its  soldier  in  his  rusty  corse- 
let, dug  from  its  ashes  after  well-nigh  two  thou- 
sand years  of  silent  guard-keeping,  is  made  an  in- 
spiration and  an  example  to  courage  and  fidelity. 
Long.centuries»of  oblivion  have  rested  over  Egypt 
and  Troy  and  Assyria  and  the  famous  city  of 
Agamemnon ;  but  now  Professor  Sayce  and  Mari- 
ette  Bey  read  the  stones  of  the  Egyptian  dynasties 
found  in  the  walls  of  the  uncovered  temples; 
Layard  and  George  Smith  bring  us  tablets  from 
the  libraries  of  Nineveh  ;  and  Dr.  Schliemann  gives 
us  the  gold  bracelet  of  Hecuba  and  the  necklace 
of  Clytemnestra.  We  are  doing  in  history  what 
these  men  are  doing  in  archaeology  :  we  are  making 
the  past  speak.  We  have  dug  up  the  Virginians 
and  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  and  the  Hollan- 
ders and  the  Scotch  and  the  Huguenots,  and  now  we 
propose  to  dig  up  the  Quakers. 


216    MAKERS  OP  THE  AMEklCAM  REPUBLIC, 

The  Quakers,  when  seen  at  their  best,  stand  in 
American  history  for  ideal  civilization ;  and  this 
civilization  is  their  contribution  to  the  American 
Republic*  As  historic  characters  the  Quakers  are 
a  marked  and  influential  people  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  marked  and  influential  types  of  mankind. 
They  have  put  their  stamp  indelibly  on  national 
and  international  life.  If  we  enter  into  the  courts 
of  justice  we  x:an  see  that  they  have  been  there : 
the  substitution  of  affirmation  in  place  of  the  oath 
is  their  work.  The  jails  of  humanity  show  the  re- 
sults of  their  reform  :  it  was  they  who  changed  our 
prisons  from  sties  to  sanatoriums.  The  dream  of 
that  beautiful  prison  angel,  Elizabeth  Fry,  is  being 
worked  out  into  reality  in  criminal  law,  and  the 
remedial  element  in  punishment  is  being  pushed 
to  the  forefront  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
They  have  put  their  mark  even  on  the  pages  of 
our  Holy  Bible  and  have  made  it  a  book  of  greater 
power.  They  have  taken  some,  jof  its  grandest 
prophecies  and  statements  and  commands  and 
beatitudes,  and  by  believing  them,  living  them, 
translating  them  into  reigning  forces  in  the  home 
and  in  the  church  and  in  the  state,  they  have  so 
made  these  their  own  that  in  reading  the  Book 
we  instinctively  associate  their  names  with  these 
Scriptures.  You  readily  recall  the  Scriptures  to 
which  I  refer :  "  And  He  shall  judge  between  the 
nations,  and  shall  decide  concerning  many  peoples : 


THE  QUAKERS.  21? 

and  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares, 
and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks :  nation  shall 
not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they 
learn  war  any  more  "  (Isa.  ii.  4).  Whenever  we 
read  that  we  say,  "  That  is  the  Quaker's  prophecy," 
and  it  is.  "  Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves, 
but  rather  give  place  unto  wrath :  for  it  is  written, 
Vengeance  is  mine;  I  will  repay,  saith  the  Lord. 
Therefore  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him ;  if  he 
thirst,  give  him  drink :  for  in  so  doing  thou  shalt 
heap  coals  of  fire  on  his  head.  Be  not  overcome 
of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good  "  (Rom.  xii. 
19-21).  When  we  read  that  we  say,  "  That  is  the 
Quaker's  gospel,"  and  it  is.  "  Holy  men  of  God 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost " 
(2  Pet.  i.  21).  When  we  read  that  we  say,  "  That 
is  the  Quaker's  rule  of  speaking  when  dealing  with 
truth,"  and  it  is.  "Blessed  are  the  peacemakers: 
for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God."  When 
we  read  that  we  say,  "  That  is  the  Quaker's  beati- 
tude," and  it  is.  "  That  was  the  true  Light,  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world." 
When  we  read  that  we  say,  "  That  is  the  Quaker's 
text  of  texts  ;  that  is  the  Bible's  statement  of  their 
great  cardinal  fact  and  doctrine,  which  they  call  the 
inner  light"  and  it  is.  By  the  incarnation  of  these 
grand  parts  of  the  divine  Book,  the  Quakers  have 
made  the  Bible  anew  and  a  fresh  power  in  human  life. 
The  Quakers  arose  in  an  age  of  dogmas  and 


218    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

creeds  and  persecutions  and  reforms  and  religious 
revolutions  and  quarreling  ecclesiastics.  They 
took  their  place  among  the  ranks  of  reformers  and 
were  the  most  advanced  of  all.  Their  reforms 
were  the  most  sweeping  of  all.  They  were  the 
liberals  and  radicals  of  that  age ;  they  were  the  re- 
formers of  the  reformed  ;  they  undertook  to  reform 
Calvin  and  Luther  and  Knox.  The  Episcopalians 
and  Puritans  and  Presbyterians  protested  against 
the  Romanists,  but  the  Quakers  protested  against 
the  Episcopalians  and  Puritans  and  Presbyterians. 
In  the  language  of  Milton,  to  them  "presbyter  was 
only  old  priest  writ  large."  The  Quakers  were  the 
Episcopalians  and  Puritans  and  Presbyterians  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  sweetened  and  modified 
and  made  over  with  a  new  and  a  large  admixture 
of  love.  They  denied  all  ecclesiastical  authority  and 
threw  aside  all  the  prevailing  ecclesiastical  rites; 
they  went  to  God  directly  for  their  instructions, 
and  worshiped  before  God  in  stillness  and  silence 
without  prescribed  forms.  As  the  complement 
of  a  state  without  a  king,  they  offered  mankind 
a  church  without  a  bishop.  Their  aim  was  to 
humanize  Christianity  and  substitute  a  gospel  of 
hope  for  a  gospel  of  despair.  Sweeping  aside 
creeds  and  councils  and  rituals  and  synods,  they 
held  that  God  and  the  individual  man,  living  in 
loving  fellowship,  were  sufficient.  They  simplified 
things  in  a  wholesale  way  and  struck  for  an  all- 


THE   QUAKERS.  219 

round  liberty.     This  was  Americanism  before  its 
day  ;  this  was  Americanism  out- Americanized. 

They  were  a  people  of  great  moral  purpose. 
Their  ideals  were  their  inspiration,  and  the  realiza- 
tion of  these  ideals  was  their  goal.  They  got  their 
strength  from  ideals  and  convictions  and  visions  of 
which  the  senses  take  no  cognizance.  James  Free- 
man Clarke  calls  them  the  "  English  mystics."  If 
they  were  mystics  they  were  exceedingly  practical 
mystics.  They  were  one  of  the  most  independent 
people  among  all  the  races.  They  differed  from 
all  the  sects  around  them  in  that  they  renounced 
the  use  of  all  force  in  the  propagation  of  their  prin- 
ciples. They  inculcated  and  practised  religious 
toleration.  They  have  the  honor  of  being  one  of 
the  few  divisions  of  Christendom  against  which  the 
charges  of  cruelty  and  selfishness  and  love  of  power 
cannot  be  brought.  Their  gun  was  a  protest,  their 
bullet  a  principle,  and  their  powder  the  inner  light. 
They  served  the  church  and  state  by  what  they 
were.  Their  method  of  pushing  their  faith  was  to 
be  what  they  believed  and  then  assert  themselves. 
They  exalted  the  passive  virtues.  This  was  the 
method  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  which  Jesus  ever  did 
in  this  world  was  to  assert  Himself  and  suffer. 
When  violence  was  used  against  them  their  prin- 
ciple of  action  was,  Never  retaliate.  Their  method 
of  growth  was  by  patience  and  perseverance  and 
quiet  suffering,  and  their  method  was  effective. 


220    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

For  example,  they  carried  their  religion  into  the 
Massachusetts  Colony  and  planted  it  right  in  the 
midst  of  the  hard-headed  Puritans.  The  Puritans 
persecuted  them,  whipped  them,  robbed  them, 
hung  them,  but  they  kept  right  on  asserting 
themselves  and  suffering  until  by  their  patience 
they  wore  out  the  cruelty  of  the  Puritans  and 
brought  the  Puritan  scourge  and  scaffold  into 
public  disgrace.  The  public,  won  over  to  them  by 
their  beautiful  spirit,  rose  and  demanded  the  ces- 
sation of  persecution.  Thus  they  purchased  and 
established  for  us  by  their  sufferings  the  religious 
toleration  which  now  exists  in  our  Republic.  They 
served  America  by  patiently  suffering.  Their 
martyrdom  was  like  the  martyrdom  of  the  church 
of  the  catacombs,  of  which  history  tells  us  in  thrill- 
ing words.  The  church  of  the  catacombs  was  the 
kingdom  of  God  in  sackcloth,  working  underground, 
along  channels  and  galleries  of  rock,  to  overthrow 
and  replace  the  armed  empires  above.  The  Qua- 
kers were  content  to  be  in  the  minority  on  every 
great  question  until  by  self-assertion  and  honest 
argument  and  right  living  they  could  win  men 
enough  to  their  side  to  make  them  the  majority. 

In  the  first  days  their  ways  and  principles  spelled 
anarchy,  but  by  the  slow  education  of  centuries,  and 
by  the  beneficial  changes  which  they  wrought,  they 
now  spell  righteousness,  peace,  love. 

Y014  see,  I  am  giving  the  bright  and  beautiful 


THE    QUAKERS.  221 

side  of  the  Quaker  story :  I  am  telling  what  they 
contributed  by  way  of  strength  and  glory ;  I  am 
speaking  of  them  as  the  children  of  the  light,  shin- 
ing with  the  celestial  beauty  of  a  Christ-like  spirit. 
In  telling  the  story  of  the  Quakers,  there  is  only 
one  starting-point :  we  must  start  with  George  Fox. 
He  is  to  Quakerism  what  Christ  is  to  Christianity, 
its  incarnation.  In  him  we  find  the  traits  and 
principles  and  hopes  and  methods  and  life  of  Qua- 
kers at  their  best.  He  represents  the  heroic  age  of 
the  Quakers.  He  gave  Quakerism  as  a  life  and 
started  it  out  on  its  thrilling  career  to  march 
through  England  and  Holland  and  America.  This 
has  been  the  order  and  growth  of  Quakerism : 
George  Fox  gave  the  world  a  Quaker  life.  Robert 
Barclay  took  the  doctrines  and  principles  and  pur- 
poses out  of  which  that  Quaker  life  was  constructed 
and  built  these  into  a  terse,  clear,  logical  Quaker 
system.  It  was  necessary  to  build  such  a  theologi- 
cal system  for  the  purpose  of  defense  under  attack 
and  misrepresentation,  and  as  a  fair  treatment  of 
the  public.  This  formulated  Quaker  system  Ed- 
ward Burroughs  took  and  carried  out  to  the  world 
and  expounded  and  preached,  and  by  the  conver- 
sions which  he  made  built  it  up  into  a  Quaker  so- 
ciety. Then  came  William  Penn  and  took  the  life 
of  Fox,  and  the  system  of  Barclay,  and  the  con- 
verts of  Burroughs,  and  built  all  into  a  Quaker 
commonwealth,  which  gave  Quakers  the  civil  em- 


222    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

bodiment  of  their  cherished  ideals,  and  which  gave 
America  the  powerful  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  a 
bulwark  in  the  defense  of  freedom.  After  this  came 
John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  who  took  the  common- 
wealth and  the  converts  and  the  system  and  the  life, 
and  beautified  all.  With  chiseled  words  and  sculp- 
tured cadences  he  built  Quakerism  into  a  cathedral- 
like poem  of  liberty,  full  of  reverence  for  God,  and 
of  appreciation  of  man,  and  of  praise  for  the  truth. 
George  Fox,  who  was  the  spiritual  father  of  the 
Quakers,  was  born  in  1624.  This  makes  him  a  child 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Did  he  rise  to  power 
in  that  century?  Was  he  so  endowed  and  did  he 
so  assert  himself  as  to  make  for  himself  an  immor- 
tal name  among  immortal  men?  If  so,  he  was  a 
man  among  men.  That  was  a  wonderful  century 
and  brought  forth  wonderful  products.  It  was  a 
century  when  every  weakling  was  relegated  to  ob- 
scurity ;  for  George  Fox  to  make  his  mark  in  that 
century  is  all  the  evidence  required  to  prove  him 
a  great  man.  This  was  the  century  of  great  reli- 
gious wars  ;  this  was  the  century  of  great  books  and 
measures  and  men.  If  you  except  the  Bible,  the 
most  democratic  books  ever  published  were  pub- 
lished in  this  century.  Cervantes  published  "  Don 
Quixote,"  which  set  all  the  world  laughing  at  sham 
aristocracies  and  mock  heroisms  ;  that  book  helped 
to  turn  away  the  human  mind  from  the  worship  of 
the  false  and  artificial.    Shakespeare's  dramas  were 


THE   QUAKERS.  223 

published  then ;  his  works  tended  toward  human 
equality ;  they  made  kings  and  queens  only  men 
and  women  like  their  subjects.  Bacon's  wrorks 
were  published  then  ;  these  taught  men  to  feel  it  not 
only  their  right,  but  their  duty,  to  look  with  eyes 
undimmed  by  a  church  creed  at  all  things  which 
the  Lord  had  created.  Bacon's  works  made  it 
possible  for  Newton  to  open  the  heavens,  Watt 
the  air,  Lyell  the  earth,  and  Darwin  animal  life. 
"  The  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  was  published  in  that 
century;  so  was  "  Paradise  Lost,"  so  was  Baxter's 
"  Saint's  Rest,"  and  so  was  the  Authorized  Version 
of  the  Bible,  which  gave  the  Book  to  the  common 
people.  The  Book  is  the  ever-enduring  Magna 
Charta  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  This  was  the 
century  of  the  Westminster  divines,  with  their 
Catechism  and  Confession  of  Faith.  This  was  the 
century  of  Cromwell's  guns.  Can  George  Fox 
rise  in  this  century  ?  Can  he  in  this  century  found 
a  sect  which  shall  live  and  prevail  and  modify  soci- 
ety, and  add  freedom  to  freedom,  and  inaugurate 
reforms  which,  when  carried  out,  will  realize  the 
ideal  civilization?  Can  he  lead  in  the  strike  for 
independence  in  an  age  when  the  whole  trend  of 
things  is  toward  independence?     He  does. 

We  get  the  story  of  the  life  of  George  Fox  from 
his  own  journal.  His  whole  life  is  here,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave ;  not  only  are  his  outward  acts 
here,  his  motives  are  here,  his  soul,  his  inner  life. 


224    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

From  boyhood  he  was  distinguished  for  great 
purity  of  thought  and  act,  and  for  modesty  and 
sweetness  of  disposition.  He  was  large  of  body 
and  large  of  soul.  He  was  first  awakened  to  life 
in  earnest  by  the  shams  and  inconsistencies  of  pro- 
fessed church- members.  What  he  saw  in  them 
raised  questions  like  these  in  his  mind  :  If  these  are 
the  legitimate  product  of  religion,  have  men  got 
the  true  religion?  Do  they  understand  the  way 
to  God?  Have  they  the  true  rule  of  life?  Are 
the  churches  what  they  ought  to  be?  Is  civiliza- 
tion the  true  representative  of  the  mind  of  Christ? 
He  sought  the  leaders  of  the  churches  and  asked 
them  for  light,  but  from  them  he  found  no  light. 
Then  he  separated  himself  from  men  and  gave  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  Bible  until  he  became  filled 
and  saturated  with  its  teachings.  After  this  he 
gave  himself  up  to  solitary  contemplation  and  deep 
thought  and  silent  waiting  for  the  voice  of  God. 
Here  he  found  light,  for  the  voice  of  God  spoke  to 
him,  and  he  became  God-filled  and  God-guided — 
one  of  God's  prophets.  God  will  fill  any  man  and 
guide  any  man  if  he  will  only  do  what  George  Fox 
did.  God  will  re-give  by  the  voice  of  His  Spirit 
the  truths  of  the  Bible  to  any  man  who  is  saturated 
with  the  Bible  as  George  Fox  was,  and  who  will 
prayerfully  and  patiently  and  silently  wait  for  that 
voice.  He  has  done  this  for  men  in  every  branch 
of  the  Christian  church. 


THE    QUAKERS.  225 

Thomas  Carlyle  helps  us  to  estimate  George  Fox 
aright;  he  corrects  Macaulay's  estimate  of  him. 
Spurgeon  says  Macaulay  was  so  warped  by  preju- 
dice that  his  measurement  of  George  Fox  was  alto- 
gether inaccurate.  Carlyle's  words  are  :  "  The  most 
remarkable  incident  in  modern  history  is  not  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  still  less  the  battle  of  Austerlitz, 
Waterloo,  Peterloo,  or  any  other  battle,  but  George 
Fox  making  himself  a  suit  of  leather.  This  man, 
the  first  of  the  Quakers,  was  one  of  those  in  whom 
the  divine  idea  is  pleased  to  manifest  itself  and, 
across  all  the  hills  of  ignorance,  shine  in  awful  and 
unspeakable  beauty.  He  is  a  highly  accredited 
prophet  of  God." 

Two  incidents  in  the  life  of  George  Fox  let  us 
into  a  large  knowledge  of  the  man ;  they  are  an 
epitome  of  the  man ;  they  interpret  the  man.  The 
first  incident  took  place  in  a  church  at  Nottingham 
on  a  Sabbath  morning  in  1649.  The  services  were 
conducted  according  to  the  directory  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly  ;  the  minister  was  a  Presbyterian. 
Suddenly  a  young  man  stepped  forth  into  the  aisle 
in  view*  of  all,  and  unexpectedly  a  strong  voice  rang 
out  like  a  battle-cry.  In  an  instant  the  blood 
leaped  to  every  brain  ;  every  sleeper  awoke,  and  a 
thousand  eager  faces  strained  forward  toward  the 
youth.  He  was  a  tall,  gaunt  man  with  piercing 
eyes  and  long  hair  and  a  face  emaciated  with  fast- 
ing; but  the  glow  of  his  countenance  lighted  up  as 


226    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

he  flatly  contradicted  the  preacher.  His  words 
were  :  "  No  ;  it  is  not  the  Scriptures  ;  it  is  the  Holy 
Spirit."  The  preacher's  text  was,  "We  have  also  a 
more  sure  word  of  prophecy  ;  whereunto  ye  do  well 
that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a 
dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day-star 
arise  in  your  hearts."  He  had  just  told  the  people 
that  the  more  sure  word  of  prophecy  mentioned  in 
the  text  was  the  Bible.  George  Fox  believed  that 
the  more  sure  word  was  the  word  which  the  Spirit 
directly  speaks  to  the  individual  waiting  heart ;  so 
he  contradicted  the  preacher:  "No;  it  is  not  the 
Scriptures;  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  gave  the 
Scriptures,  who  leads  into  all  truth.  The  Jews  had 
the  Scriptures,  and  yet  they  resisted  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  rejected  Christ.  They  undertook  to  try  the 
apostles  by  the  Scriptures,  but  they  erred  in  judg- 
ment, because  they  tried  them  without  the  Spirit. 
When  the  apostles  tried  cases,  they  issued  their  de- 
cisions in  this  form :  '  It  seems  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  to  us  to  order  thus  and  so.'  No;  it  is  not  the 
Scriptures ;  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit."  For  this  protest 
George  Fox  was  arrested   and  imprisoned. 

The  second  incident  took  place  in  the  city  of  Lich- 
field, in  the  center  of  England.  "  On  a  winter  day 
in  165  I  a  tall,  strongly  built  young  man,  singularly 
handsome,  of  grave  and  dignified  appearance,  was 
seen  approaching  the  city  of  Lichfield.  He  wore 
a  broad-brimmed  hat  and  a  long  coat  of  leather. 


THE   QUAKERS.  227 

When  the  tall  spires  of  the  great  cathedral  caught 
his  eye,  he  stopped,  dismissed  the  few  companions 
who  were  with  him,  and  stood  for  a  moment  alone, 
silently  praying.  Then  he  moved  forward  again, 
but  slowly  as  if  deliberating,  until  he  reached  a 
group  of  shepherds  keeping  watch  over  their  flocks. 
By  the  side  of  the  shepherds  he  paused  once  more. 
His  actions  were  peculiar,  but  on  his  face  was  an 
expression  which  awed  the  shepherds  so  that  they 
durst  not  ask  him  any  questions.  Taking  off  his 
shoes,  he  gave  them  to  the  shepherds  and  resumed 
his  march  toward  the  city.  Having  entered  it,  he 
walked  barefoot  through  the  main  street  and  mar- 
ket-place, crying  in  a  strong,  sweet  voice, '  Woe  to 
the  bloody  city  !  Woe  to  the  bloody  city  !  '  That 
man  was  George  Fox."  He  knew  he  was  risking 
his  liberty  and  perhaps  his  life  by  that  act,  but  he 
knew  also  that  he  was  obeying  his  conscience  and 
his  God.  He  was  speaking  to  a  wicked  public  by 
the  language  of  signs.  The  language  of  signs  is 
ever  a  living  language  and  ever  a  telling  language. 
You  may  criticize  the  man  for  this  act  and  you 
may  call  it  a  violation  of  good  taste,  but  this  one 
thing  remains  to  be  said :  Lichfield  zvas  a  success. 
It  developed  George  Fox ;  it  gave  him  a  recogni- 
tion in  the  world  and  set  an  example  for  his  fol- 
lowers which  made  them  effective  witnesses.  You 
might  as  well  criticize  the  Hebrew  prophets  for 
putting  truth  in  dramatic  form. 


228    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Take  these  two  incidents  out  of  the  early  life  of 
George  Fox  and  you  unmake  the  man.  You  do 
more  than  that ;  you  take  from  his  early  followers 
that  aggressive  spirit  which  made  them  propagan- 
dists and  which  inspired  them  to  fearlessness  in 
making  their  public  protest  against  tyrants  and 
tyrannies.  The  Quakers  were  not  a  negative 
people,  they  were  a  positive  people.  Without 
the  discipline  of  these  two  incidents,  George  Fox 
would  never  have  faced  Oliver  Cromwell,  before 
whom  all  England  trembled,  and  have  talked  to 
him  as  he  did.  Cromwell  felt  his  power;  after  the 
interview  he  said,  "  Now  I  see  there  is  a  people 
risen  that  I  cannot  win  either  with  gifts,  honors, 
office,  or  places  ;  but  all  others  I  can  win."  With- 
out his  example,  Quaker  missionaries  would  not 
have  gone  to  Rome  as  they  did,  to  face  the  Roman 
pontiff  and  charge  home  upon  him  his  errors ;  nor 
would  they  have  gone  to  Constantinople  to  face 
the  sultan  and  tell  him  that  God  would  judge  him 
for  his  barbarous  inhumanities.  Without  his  ex- 
ample, Edward  Burroughs  would  not  have  written 
to  Charles  II.,  declaring  to  him  the  words  of  the 
Lord  with  a  boldness  which  would  have  done  credit 
to  Elijah  before  Ahab. 

We  are  now  face  to  face  with  the  question, 
What  were  the  doctrines  for  which  George  Fox 
witnessed  in  his  intrepid  way,  and  which  he  gave 
to  his  followers,  and  which  made  them  a  factor  in 


THE   QUAKERS.  229 

civilization?  We  place  the  doctrine  of  the  inner 
light  first ;  all  others  flow  from  this.  The  doctrine 
of  the  universal  inner  light  is  this:  Jesus  Christ 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. 
This  Spirit  of  Christ  in  every  man  is  sufficient  to 
guide  him.  This  Spirit  of  Christ  in  every  man 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  conscience ;  the  dis- 
tinction is  clear  between  the  human  faculties  and 
the  divine  Spirit.  Conscience  is  an  original  fac- 
ulty of  human  nature ;  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is  an 
added  faculty.  Instead  of  being  identical  with 
conscience,  His  purpose  is  to  enlighten  conscience. 
William  Penn  says,  "  God  in  Christ  has  placed  a 
principle  in  every  man  to  inform  him  of  his  duty 
and  to  enable  him  to  do  it."  The  way  the  inner 
light  is  perceived  and  increased  is  by  waiting  in 
silence  for  it  before  God  and  by  meditation.  The 
more  it  is  honored  and  rightly  used  the  more  and 
brighter  it  shines.  The  inner  light  tells  on  the 
whole  man  ;  it  illumines  and  quickens  the  mental 
and  spiritual  faculties,  and  it  beautifies  and  trans- 
figures the  form  and  face.  It  makes  the  face  calm 
and  clear  and  crystalline,  a  very  transparency  for 
a  lighted  soul.  You  can  see  what  this  doctrine 
carries  in  it.  If  God  speaks  to  the  soul,  then  the 
voice  of  God  frees  the  soul  from  all  bondage  to  the 
false  opinions  and  prejudices  and  faiths  of  men. 
That  is  liberty  indeed.  If  God  speaks  directly  to 
every  man,  then  every  man  has  a  distinct  individ- 


230    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

uality  and  is  an  independent  personality.  It  is  out 
of  the  consciousness  of  this  fact  that  democracy 
is  born.  This  consciousness,  when  nurtured  and 
grown,  makes  an  American  citizen  of  the  highest 
type;  it  breaks  every  human  shackle,  it  quickens 
and  deepens  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  for 
it  brings  God  into  every  life  and  makes  Him  the 
sole  authority.  My  fellow-men,  give  my  country 
a  people  whose  supreme  desire  and  object  in  life 
are  to  reach  the  mind  of  God  in  all  things,  and  you 
give  it  a  people  in  whose  hands  the  interests  of  the 
Republic  will  be  perfectly  safe :  "  For  where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 

The  experience  which  George  Fox  had  with  the 
clergy  of  his  day  gave  origin  to  the  mode  of  wor- 
ship which  he  left  his  followers.  In  the  midst  of 
his  religious  perplexities  he  sought  light  from  the 
clergy,  but  found  none.  The  clergy  were  useless 
to  him,  so  he  protested  against  hireling  ministers 
and  dispensed  with  their  services.  In  his  journal 
he  says,  "  Being  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  does  not 
make  a  man  fit  to  be  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ." 
George  Fox  protected  his  people  against  two  things 
— ministers  and  choirs.  He  substituted  the  inner 
light  for  the  clergy,  and  he  put  his  foot  upon  the 
choir  and  buried  it  out  of  sight.  He  arranged  for 
the  assembling  of  his  followers  on  the  Sabbath  to 
wait  for  the  Spirit  and  His  message.  If  the  Spirit 
gave  no  message,  there  was  nothing  said,  and  the 


THE   QUAKERS.  231 

time  of  the  assembly  was  spent  in  golden  silence. 
Both  Charles  Lamb  and  John  G.  Whittier  speak 
the  praise  of  these  silent  Sabbath  services.  Charles 
Lamb  writes  of  the  power  of  the  stillness  of  the 
meeting:  "  I  have  seen  the  reeling  sea-ruffian,  who 
came  with  the  avowed  intention  of  disturbing  the 
quiet,  from  the  very  spirit  of  the  place  receive  in 
a  moment  a  new  heart,  and  presently  sit  down  in 
peace  among  the  Friends  to  let  God  talk  to  his 
heart."     Whittier  writes : 

"  And  so  I  find  it  well  to  come 
For  deeper  rest  to  this  still  room, 
For  here  the  habit  of  the  soul 
Feels  less  the  outer  world's  control. 
The  strength  of  mutual  purpose  pleads 
More  earnestly  our  common  needs  ; 
And  from  the  silence  multiplied 
By  these  still  forms  on  either  side, 
The  world  that  time  and  sense  have  known 
Falls  off  and  leaves  us  God  alone." 

George  Fox  had  a  profound  sense  of  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  love  which  God  had  for  man- 
kind, and  this  made  him  the  philanthropist  he  was. 
"  All  men  are  members  of  the  family  of  the  All- 
father  and  are  brothers."  In  his  journal  he  says, 
"  I  saw  the  infinite  love  of  God."  God's  love  to 
man  inspired  his  love  to  man.  To  him  brother- 
hood meant  the  opportunity  of  doing  good  to  all 
men;  hence  he  inaugurated  help  for  the  helpless, 
and  led  in  prison  reforms  and  charities,  and  in  the 


232    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

organization  of  societies  for  the  emancipation  of  all 
human  brothers  in  slavery ;  hence  he  inaugurated 
movements  looking  to  the  abolition  of  the  horrid 
and  ungodly  practice  of  brother  man  shooting 
down  brother  man ;  hence  he  protested  against 
imprisonment  for  debt  and  against  the  infliction 
of  capital  punishment  for  minor  crimes.  From  the 
brotherhood  of  man  he  evolved,  under  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  the  doctrine  of  human  equality. 
He  made  woman  the  equal  of  man,  and  to  estab- 
lish her  equality  gave  her  her  full  half  of  the 
meeting-house.  He  argued,  if  men  are  equal, 
why  should  some  be  greeted  with  idolatrous  titles, 
and  receive  obeisance  from  others,  and  be  addressed 
in  flattering  pronouns?  With  him  every  brother 
man  stood  for  just  one,  and  that  one  was  no  better 
than  his  neighbor;  hence  he  refused  to  doff  his  hat 
to  any  man,  or  address  any  man  as  "  your  Rever- 
ence," "your  Holiness,"  "your  Grace,"  "your 
Honor;  "  hence  he  called  men  by  their  Christian 
name,  treating  all  alike.  William  Penn,  following 
his  example,  addressed  even  King  Charles  II.  as 
"  Friend  Charles."  There  was  democracy  in  that. 
Hence  he  introduced  the  use  of  the  pronouns 
"  thee  "  and  "  thou  "  into  conversation  as  a  protest 
against  caste.  William  Penn  has  built  up  a  gram- 
matical argument  for  the  use  of  these  pronouns. 
"Thee"  and  "thou"  are  singular  pronouns;  "you" 
is  the  plural  pronoun.     Why  should  any  single  man 


THE   QUAKERS.  233 

be  addressed  as  though  he  were  plural — as  though 
he  were  a  regiment  in  one?  A  plural  pronoun 
used  in  the  place  of  a  singular  pronoun  is  a  species 
of  flattery  for  the  purpose  of  magnifying  a  man  or 
a  woman.  Recognizing  that  man  is  the  brother 
of  man,  George  Fox  labored  to  promote  honesty 
and  truthfulness  between  man  and  man.  This  led 
him  to  secure  a  fixity  of  price  for  goods  in  all  the 
trades,  a  custom  which  is  now  established.  This 
led  to  simplicity  of  speech  in  conversation.  He 
argued  for  the  abolition  of  the  oath,  for  the  reason 
that  he  would  have  every  word  uttered  by  man  as 
true  as  an  oath.  That  honesty  and  truthfulness 
might  be  made  easy,  he  argued  for  an  all-round 
simplicity  of  life,  and  protested  against  extravagance 
and  waste  and  vanity  and  idle  luxury  and  the  sense- 
less change  of  fashion.  Such  was  George  Fox  and 
such  were  the  doctrines  and  practices  which  he  con- 
tributed to  civilization.  The  man  himself  was  one 
grand  declaration  of  independence,  and  he  was  that 
fully  one  hundred  years  before  Thomas  Jefferson 
penned  the  American  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. He  issued  declaration  of  independence 
after  declaration  of  independence,  all  more  radical 
than  Jefferson's.  His  plainness  of  dress  was  a 
declaration  of  independence  from  the  despotism  of 
fashion  and  from  the  extravagance  of  the  privi- 
leged classes.  His  employment  of  the  singular 
pronouns  and  of  the  Christian  names  of  men  was 


234     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

a  declaration  of  independence  from  the  spirit  of 
caste.  Fixity  of  price  in  traffic  was  a  declaration 
of  independence  from  the  cupidity  of  the  grasping 
trader.  Arbitration  as  a  method  of  settlement  of 
all  international  disputes  was  a  declaration  of  in- 
dependence from  the  monstrous  iniquity  of  war. 
The  doctrine  of  the  inner  light  was  a  declaration 
of  independence  from  the  dogmatism  of  sects  and 
traditions,  and  from  man-made  and  self-elected 
authorities.  George  Fox  was  a  magnificent  free- 
man, and  he  introduced  into  the  world  of  thought 
and  life  that  genius  of  liberty  which  was  calculated 
to  make  every  other  man  a  freeman  like  himself. 

How  did  these  legacies  which  George  Fox  con- 
tributed to  America  reach  America  ?  He  brought 
them  himself.  The  man  himself  trod  the  very 
ground  we  to-day  tread.  He  traveled  through  the 
American  colonies  for  the  express  purpose  of  as- 
serting himself  and  his  gospel  of  liberty.  After  he 
had  worked  out  his  mission  here  he  went  back  to 
England  to  find  a  grave,  and  there  he  died,  saying, 
"  I  am  clear,  I  am  clear."  And  was  he  not  clear? 
What  man  ever  left  the  world  having  done  his 
duty  more  fearlessly,  or  having  declared  more  com- 
pletely all  the  counsel  of  God  as  he  understood  it, 
or  having  given  the  world  grander  ideals  for  the 
coming  civilization? 

But  the  principles  of  George  Fox  came  to  Amer- 
ica not  only  in  the  person  of  George  Fox  himself; 


THE   QUAKERS.  235 

they  came  also  in  the  person  of  his  many  followers, 
who  settled  in  all  the  colonies,  but  notably  in  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Rhode  Island  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  most  of  the  colonies  they  had  patiently  to 
work  their  way  into  recognition.  This  was  espe- 
cially so  in  Massachusetts.  The  first  thing  which 
met  the  Quakers  there  was  persecution,  and  that 
from  the  holy  Puritans.  This  is  one  of  the  stains 
which  rest  on  the  memory  of  the  Puritans.  It  is 
vain  to  try  to  excuse  it,  for  it  cannot  be  excused ; 
it  can  only  be  admitted  and  apologized  for.  In 
former  years  I  offered  my  service  to  the  Puritans 
and  made  a  special  plea  in  their  defense,  but  I  now 
beg  leave  to  withdraw  from  the  case.  I  once 
uttered  and  published  the  following  words :  "  But 
what  have  we  to  say  concerning  the  Puritans'  treat- 
ment of  Quakers  ?  We  have  this  to  say  :  that  even 
in  the  harsh  measures,  as  they  dealt  with  these, 
they  were  the  progressives  of  their  age,  and  were 
the  most  merciful  people  of  that  century.  The 
Quakers  in  that  day  were  not  the  ideal  people  who 
walk  the  pages  of  our  novels  to-day,  and  with 
whom  we  instinctively  fall  in  love.  They  were 
not  Friend  Olivia  and  Hannah  Mettelane  and 
Roger  Pry  or,  the  Quaker  characters  and  heroes 
of  Mrs.  Amelia  Barr's  charming  book.  No ;  they 
were  loud-voiced  people,  disturbers  of  the  peace, 
denunciatory  in  their  language,  rudely  behaved. 
Two  of  the  women,  Lydia  Wardwell  and  Deborah 


236    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Wilson,  walked  the  streets  of  Boston  unclad,  and 
tried  to  pass  off  that  conduct  as  witnessing  for  God. 
The  Puritans  knew  better  than  that,  and  put  them 
behind  the  bars  of  the  prison  out  of  sight.  Thomas 
Newhouse  rushed  into  the  Old  South  Church  with 
two  glass  bottles  in  his  hand,  which  he  wildly 
dashed  together  and  in  pieces  before  the  affrighted 
congregation,  crying,  '  Thus  will  the  Lord  break 
you  all  in  pieces.'  When  the  governor  of  the  colony 
walked  the  street  the  Quakers  used  to  turn  and 
hoot  at  him  to  show  their  contempt  for  govern- 
ment. The  Puritans  would  not  have  persecuted 
Quakers  of  the  type  of  to-day ;  they  would  not 
have  persecuted  our  poet,  John  G.  Whittier.  The 
Quakers  have  improved  beyond  the  need  of  perse- 
cution. Mary  Dyer  was  hung  upon  Boston  Com- 
mon in  front  of  my  old  church,  but  Mrs.  Dyer  was 
hung  because  she  wanted  to  be.  She  wanted  to 
hang ;  it  was  her  way  of  giving  her  testimony,  and 
she  refused  to  take  no  for  an  answer.  They  sent 
her  out  of  the  city  scot-free,  but  she  came  back  and 
acted  worse  than  ever  in  order  to  compel  the  Puri- 
tans to  hang  her.  Her  hanging  was  a  piece  of  pure 
gallantry  upon  the  part  of  the  Puritan  gentlemen. 
There  were  four  thousand  Quakers  imprisoned  in 
England  at  one  time,  but  only  a  handful  were  im- 
prisoned in  New  England." 

I  have  just  been  reading  "The  Pioneer  Quakers" 
and  "The  Quaker  Invasion  of  Massachusetts,"  two 


THE    QUAKERS.  237 

valuable  books  published  by  my  friend,  Richard  P. 
Hallowell,  of  Boston,  and  I  have  found  that  the 
Puritans  did  persecute  men  just  as  pure  and  as  sweet 
as  John  G.  Whittier.  They  persecuted  Nicholas  Up- 
shal.  And  they  did  publicly  expose  the  sacred  per- 
sons of  women  as  right-minded  as  Friend  Olivia  and 
Hannah  Mettelane,  and  without  mercy  cut  their  flesh 
to  the  bone  with  the  cruel  lash.  The  Puritans,  who 
desecrated  temples  and  destroyed  the  finest  works  of 
art,  are  not  the  people  to  condemn  others  for  rude- 
ness, are  not  the  people  to  bore  the  tongues  of  Qua- 
kers with  red-hot  irons,  and  cut  off  their  ears,  and 
brand  their  flesh,  and  strip  them  naked  and  pub- 
licly scourge  them,  for  the  crime  of  rudeness.  Mr. 
Hallowell  shows  that  where  the  Quakers  went  to 
an  extreme  in  giving  emphasis  to  their  protest,  a 
reason  for  their  extreme  can  be  found  in  the 
effects  of  the  cruel  treatment  which  they  ante- 
cedently received.  In  some  cases  the  cruelties 
inflicted  had  unbalanced  them  mentally.  The 
Quakers  used  no  force;  theirs  was  the  strength  of 
the  martyr  nature.  On  behalf  of  the  Quakers  I 
instance  the  letters  which  they  wrote  in  their  pris- 
ons, and  the  words  which  they  spoke  on  the  gallows, 
and  the  prayers  which  they  offered  for  forgiveness 
of  their  murderers.  I  put  these  in  the  deadly  paral- 
lel column  with  the  Puritans'  cruel  laws  and  brand- 
ing-irons and  knotted  whips  and  public  gallows,  and 
then  leave  the  decision  of  the  case  to  posterity. 


238    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

There  is  this  to  be  said  for  the  Puritans :  a  popu- 
lar reaction  set  in  against  persecution,  and  by  this 
means  Puritanism  rectified  itself.  The  reaction 
came  from  such  outspoken  men  as  the  Puritan  sea- 
captain  whose  story  John  G.  Whittier  forcefully  re- 
lates in  a  poem  pertaining  to  the  dark  colonial  days. 
Cassandra  Southwick,  a  Quaker  maiden  of  Salem, 
being  unable  to  pay  a  fine  of  ten  pounds  imposed 
upon  her  because  she  would  not  attend  a  Puritan 
church,  was  sentenced  to  be  taken  to  the  island 
of  Barbadoes  and  sold  into  bondage.  When  the 
sheriff  asked  the  captain  of  the  ship  to  transport 
the  prisoner,  and  put  money  in  his  pocket  by  act- 
ing as  agent  in  the  sale,  the  old  sailor  growled  back 
his  answer  like  the  roar  of  the  sea: 

"  Pile  my  ship  with  bars  of  silver,  pack  with  coins  of  Spanish  gold, 
From  keel-piece  to  deck-plank,  the  roomage  of  her  hold. 
By  the  living  God  who  made  me,  I  would  rather  in  your  bay 
Sink  ship  and  crew  and  cargo,  than  bear  this  child  away." 

It  was  ringing  voices  like  that  which  put  an  inter- 
dict upon  Puritan  whips  and  irons  and  gallows. 

The  Quaker  power  in  America  reached  its  height 
in  the  coming-of  William  Penn  and  in  the  establish- 
ment and  life  of  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania. 
William  Penn  was  second  only  to  George  Fox  as 
a  Quaker  influence.  He  came  to  America  in  the 
ship  called  Welcome,  in  1682.  The  Welcome  added 
another  ship  to  the   grand    historic  ships  which 


THE   QUAKERS.  239 

proudly  rode  the  sea  of  American  life.  One  could 
write  American  history  if  he  but  told  the  story  of 
the  famous  ships  which  brought  the  famous  men  of 
the  past  to  our  continent.  What  a  fleet  that  was 
which  sailed  the  American  seas!  The  Santa 
Maria,  the  Good  Speed,  the  Half -moon,  the  May- 
flozver,  the  Swallow,  which  brought  the  first  Qua- 
kers, Ann  Austin  and  Mary  Fisher,  and  the  Wel- 
come, which  brought  William  Penn. 

The  territory  of  Pennsylvania  was  given  to 
William  Penn  by  Charles  II.  in  lieu  of  money 
owed  his  father  by  the  crown.  The  land  was  his 
to  do  with  as  he  wished,  and  he  devoted  it  to 
working  into  life  a  Quaker  commonwealth.  There 
was  no  man  better  fitted  to  establish  such  a  com- 
monwealth than  William  Penn.  He  had  paid  a 
large  price  for  the  privilege  of  being  a  Quaker, 
and  this  made  him  a  man  to  be  trusted.  He  sac- 
rificed the  friendship  of  his  home ;  his  father  said 
of  him,  "William  has  become  a  Quaker  or  some 
such  melancholy  thing."  He  had  ability;  he  was 
educated  at  Oxford.  He  was  democratic  in  spirit ; 
his  definition  of  a  free  government  shows  this. 
"  Any  government,"  he  said,  "  is  free  where  the 
people  are  a  party  to  the  laws  enacted."  He  was 
a  kindred  spirit  to  John  Bright,  the  Quaker  states- 
man of  Great  Britain,  who  for  a  whole  generation 
was  a  leading  spirit  in  the  great  movements  of  his 
country,  and  who  was  always  on  the  right  side, 


240    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

John  Bright  got  his  principles  from  William  Penn. 
An  analysis  of  his  public  life  will  show  the  Quaker 
principle  of  civil  life  to  be  this :  political  power  is 
rightly  exercised  only  when  it  is  possessed  by  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  and  is  used  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community  according  to  the  permissions 
of  the  moral  law.  This  principle  guided  William 
Penn  when  he  organized  his  colony.  He  gave  it 
a  constitution  and  laws  full  of  the  genius  of  human- 
ity and  full  of  equal  justice.  He  allowed  all  reforms 
to  be  pushed  within  its  territory.  There  was  not 
one  good  Quaker  thing  which  did  not  flourish  in  it. 
Here  the  Indians  were  treated  as  brothers  and  here 
they  acted  brotherly  in  return.  The  colony  was  a 
temperance  colony  ;  it  was  an  anti-war  colony ;  it 
was  a  colony  noted  for  its  religious  toleration.  For 
over  one  hundred  years  the  Quakers  controlled  it. 
Its  homes  were  full  of  sweetness  and  strength.  The 
colony  was  one  of  the  greatest  powers  in  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  furnished  such  leaders  as  Logan 
and  Mifflin  and  Dickinson,  all  of  them  Quakers. 
Benjamin  West,  the  great  painter,  was  born  here 
in  a  Quaker  home  ;  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Great  Britain.  The  liberty 
of  thought  granted  by  this  colony  bore  its  products 
and  brought  the  colony  honor.  It  enabled  it  to  grow 
into  what  it  is  to-day,  the  second  State  in  the  Union. 
The  colony  gave  the  country  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, the  one  city  of  the  Republic  which  rivals 


THE   QUAKERS.  241 

Boston  in  old  colonial  landmarks,  just  as  in  olden 
time  it  rivaled  Boston  in  that  leadership  which  in- 
augurated the  American  Revolution.  It  gave  the 
country  Independence  Hall ;  it  was  the  home  of 
the  Continental  Congress.  Here  was  framed  and 
debated  and  publicly  signed  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  itself,  which  made  the  American 
Revolution  an-  historic  fact.  All  this  took  place 
not  on  Puritan  soil,  but  on  Quaker  soil,  and  all  this 
took  place  where  it  did  because  there  was  more 
freedom  of  thought  in  Philadelphia  than  there  was 
in  Boston. 

One  thing  we  cannot  fail  to  notice  in  this  his- 
torical study,  and  that  is  the  general  acceptance 
by  our  Republic  of  the  principles  and  practices  of 
the  Quakers  as  these  relate  to  civil  life.  The  ac- 
ceptance of  each  of  their  humane  measures  is  a  vic- 
tory for  humanity  as  well  as  for  their  testimony. 
They  have  reaped  triumphs  all  the  way  from  the 
abolition  of  capital  punishment  for  minor  offenses 
to  the  abolition  of  African  slavery.  One  victory 
more  remains  for  them  to  win,  and  that  is  the 
abolition  of  war  and  the  substitution  in  its  place  of 
international  arbitration.  That  victory  is  already 
more  than  half  won,  for  men  everywhere  in  Chris- 
tendom are  beginning  to  argue  on  the  right  side. 
Their  triumph  will  some  day  be  complete,  be- 
cause their  aim  is  right.  It  is  the  ultimatum 
of  Christianity.     It  has  on  its  side  also  the  verdict 


242    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

of  history.  The  progress  of  civilization  does  not 
ride  in  a  powder-cart.  Take  England  as  an  ex- 
ample :  has  its  progress  been  the  career  of  the 
powder-cart?  Let  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  an  Eng- 
lishman, answer  the  question.  He  writes :  "  The 
most  splendid  portion  of  Great  Britain,  which  is 
now  known  as  the  United  States  of  America,  was 
that  great  Christian  commonwealth,  to  which  the 
future  of  the  world  belongs,  founded  or  built  up 
by  the  army  ?  Every  one  knows  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  was  founded  by  the  God-fearing  Puritan 
fathers,  who  crossed  the  broad  Atlantic  not  to 
erect  an  empire  upon  bloodshed,  but  to  secure 
liberty  of  conscience,  which  the  soldiery  of  the 
odious  Stuart  kings  refused  them  at  home.  Our 
soldiers  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  this  the 
most  splendid  colony,  except  to  deprive  us  of  it. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  the  despotic  temper  of  the 
military  party  of  England  the  American  colonists 
would  not  have  revolted  and  the  United  States 
would  have  been  an  integral  part  of  the  British 
empire  to-day.  The  army  of  Britain  will  never  be 
able  to  compensate  us  for  the  loss  of  America." 
That  is  precisely  to  our  point ;  that  is  history ;  that 
is  invincible  logic. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  is  to  be  said  relative  to 
England.  The  best  part  of  Canada  is  not  the  part 
which  was  conquered  in  war,  which  was  taken  by 
the   army   from   France ;    that   part    is   the    least 


THE   QUAKERS.  243 

Anglicized  of  all  Canada  and  it  is  the  most  un- 
stable part  of  the  Canadian  structure ;  it  is  the 
disturbing,  perilous  element.  Nor  is  this  all  Eng- 
land does  not  owe  her  colonies  in  South  Africa  to 
her  army ;  they  were  won  by  the  enterprise  and 
energy  of  travelers  and  traders  and  missionaries. 
She  does  not  owe  her  colonies  in  the  Fiji  Islands 
to  her  army  and  navy.  Veteran  missionaries  de- 
serve the  credit  there.  They  took  neither  gun- 
powder nor  brandy  with  them ;  they  took  Bibles 
and  the  implements  of  industry  ;  they  took  swords 
and  spears  beaten  into  plowshares  and  pruning- 
hooks.  The  only  place  where  British  militarism 
was  powerful  was  in  India ;  but  who  can  tell  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  British  lives  and  the  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  British  treasure  that  India  has 
cost  England?  To-day  the  army  plays  a  subor- 
dinate part  in  India.  English  tenure  would  cease 
to-morrow  if  it  rested  only  or  mainly  on  the  sword. 
It  rests  on  the  justice  of  English  rule  and  on  the 
influence  of  the  missionaries  of  the  cross  of  Christ, 
the  Prince  of  Peace. 

The  teaching  which  we  find  in  English  history 
adverse  to  the  claims  of  war  we  find  true  in 
American  history.  The  most  of  Americans,  I 
verily  believe,  imagine  that  it  was  the  Revolution- 
ary War  which  made  us  a  republic.  Our  most  pro- 
found dangers  only  began  when  the  Revolutionary 
War  ceased.    There  was  imminent  danger  lest  the 


244    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

colonies  should  throw  themselves  against  one  an- 
other in  the  shock  of  war,  and  devour  one  another. 
It  was  the  statesmanship  of  Franklin  and  Washing- 
ton and  Jefferson  and  the  Adamses  which  made  us 
a  republic  and  which  saved  the  colonies  from  them- 
selves. Let  any  one  read  John  Fiske's  "  Critical 
Period  of  American  History  "  and  he  will  be  as- 
sured of  the  truth  of  this.  What  was  the  critical 
period  of  America's  history  ?  Fiske  says  it  was  the 
period  which  immediately  followed  the  American 
Revolution.  It  was  the  triumphs  won  in  the  time 
of  peace  which  made  us  most  and  made  us  per- 
manently. 

What  we  find  true  in  England  and  in  America 
we  find  true  also  in  Italy.  We  all  admire  Garibaldi 
and  praise  him  for  what  he  did  for  Italy ;  but  what 
is  the  story  of  Garibaldi?  Garibaldi  himself  did 
not  emancipate  Italy  with  the  sword  ;  he  was  not 
the  sole  emancipator  of  Italy.  His  volunteers 
would  have  been  speedily  crushed  by  the  Austrian 
army  had  not  Mazzini,  the  Italian  patriot  and  co- 
worker, changed  the  thoughts  and  hearts  of  the 
people  by  his  powerful  appeals  and  red-hot  logic. 
Besides  this,  Garibaldi's  greatest  victory  was  won 
without  the  shedding  of  a  single  drop  of  blood.  I 
refer  to  his  victory  at  Naples.  He  entered  Naples 
unarmed  and  in  an  open  carriage.  When  the 
artillerymen  of  the  cruel  despot  were  commanded 
to  blow  Garibaldi  into  the  air,  the  great  Italian  rose 


THE   QUAKERS.  245 

silently  and  opened  his  red  shirt  to  receive  the 
deadly  volley  into  his  heart.  The  effect  of  that 
act  was  electric  and  irresistible.  The  artillerymen 
flung  down  their  fuses  and  shouted,  "  Long  live 
Garibaldi!"  "Long  live  Italy!"  That  was  the 
way  Garibaldi's  greatest  victory  was  won  and  that 
was  the  way  Naples  was  made  free. 

In  the  study  of  history  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion voiced  by  Emilio  Castelar,  the  most  elo- 
quent and  noble  man  of  all  Spain,  the  man  who 
would  give  Spain  to-day  a  republic  worthy  of  the 
name  if  his  country  would  only  let  him  and  if  the 
military  despotism  were  not  in  the  way.  Castelar 
says  :  "  National  freedom  can  be  permanently  won 
only  by  pacific  means.  Soldiers  are  as  unfit  to 
build  the  temple  of  freedom  as  the  warrior  David 
was  to  build  the  temple  of  God.  Those  who  de- 
pend upon  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword." 

In  America  we  are  far  on  toward  the  acceptance 
of  arbitration  as  a  substitute  for  war,  and  the  great 
thinkers  of  the  world  are  with  us.  Arbitration  to- 
day has  its  laurels.  The  settlement  of  the  Alabama 
claims — that  is  a  laurel;  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  France,  with  its  arbitration 
clause — that  is  a  laurel ;  a  like  treaty  with  Switzer- 
land— that  is  a  laurel ;  the  present  hopeful  negotia- 
tion with  Great  Britain  for  a  treaty  of  the  same 
import — that  too  is  a  laurel ;  the  International 
Arbitration  Conference,   which  met  in  our  land 


246    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

this  very  year — that  is  a  laurel.  This  conference 
issued  a  magnificent  address  to  the  world  last  June, 
demanding  law  for  war  in  the  settlement  of  all 
difficulties  between  nations.  The  clock  of  time  is 
getting  ready  to  strike  the  hour  which  the  poet 
laureate  foretells,  when 

"The  war-drums  will  throb  no  longer,  and  the   battle-flags  be 
furled, 
In  the  parliament  of  man,  the  federation  of  the  world." 

The  part  which  the  Quakers  have  taken  in  build- 
ing the  American  Republic  makes  clear  this  two- 
fold way  in  which  patriots  can  effectively  serve 
their  country : 

I .  By  tittering  an  emphatic  protest  against  all 
destructive  evils. 

History  can  ask  no  grander  illustration  of  the 
power  of  protest  than  Quaker  life  on  American  soil. 
Why  is  it  that  there  is  no  African  slavery  to-day 
within  our  borders?  It  is  because  the  Quakers  as 
early  as  1688  issued  their  protest  against  African 
slavery,  and  kept  it  issued  until  the  nation  was 
educated  up  to  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
But  mark  this :  they  invested  their  all  in  their 
protest.  They  meant  it,  and  they  made  the  Ameri- 
can people  feel  that  they  meant  it.  Their  protest 
was  strong  with  the  moral  strength  of  a  splendid 
personality  and  a  consistent  life;  its  power  was 
moral. 


THE   QUAKERS.  247 

2.  By  keeping  before  one's  country  uplifting  and 
inspiring  ideas. 

We  call  guns,  swords,  powder,  forts,  ironclads, 
and  armies  national  powers ;  the  Quakers  have 
taught  us  that  there  are  powers  beyond  these. 
The  powers  beyond  these  are  right  thoughts,  high 
ideals,  holy  visions,  righteous  principles,  burning 
aspirations.  These  make  a  strong  manhood  and  a 
pure  womanhood,  and  such  manhood  and  woman- 
hood make  a  strong  and  pure  state.  The  men  and 
women  who  have  these  thoughts,  ideals,  visions, 
principles,  aspirations,  go  straight  to  God  for  them  ; 
they  are  exponents  of  God.  The  ideal  civilization 
exists  only  in  the  plan  of  God. 

This  is  the  message  of  the  Quaker  fathers  to  the 
patriotic  sons  of  America:  If  you  would  render 
your  country  the  highest  service  and  lead  it  for- 
ward to  the  millennial  age,  be  an  intellect  to  your 
country,  think  for  it ;  be  a  conscience  to  your 
country,  make  moral  decisions  for  it ;  and  think 
and  decide  within  the  lines  of  God's  holy  law.  If 
you  would  render  your  country  the  highest  service, 
be  the  Lord's  prophet  to  your  country ;  dream 
dreams  for  it  and  see  visions  for  it.  It  was  Socrates 
and  Plato  and  Aristotle,  men  of  thought  and  of 
vision,  wrho  were  the  promoters  and  conservators 
of  the  national  strength  of  Greece;  and  it  was 
Samuel  and  Elijah  and  Isaiah,  the  prophets  of  the 
Lord,  who  were  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the  horse- 


248    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

men  thereof.  Be  to  the  American  Republic  what 
these  men  were  to  the  kingdoms  of  which  they 
were  citizens.  Hold  up  ideals  before  the  people 
as  they  did,  and  then,  like  them,  you  will  attain  a 
civilization  embodying  your  ideals ;  then  you  can 
look  up  into  the  face  of  your  God  and  address 
Him  in  the  words  which  the  sweet  Quaker  poet  of 
America  left  with  his  fellow-citizens  as  an  ideal 
and  a  vision : 

"  Suffice  it  now.     In  time  to  be 
Shall  holier  altars  rise  to  Thee ; 
Thy  church  one  broad  humanity. 

"  White  flowers  of  love  its  walls  shall  climb, 
Soft  bells  of  peace  shall  ring  its  chime ; 
Its  days  shall  all  be  holy  time. 

"  A  sweeter  song  shall  then  be  heard — 
The  music  of  the  world's  accord 
Confessing  Christ,  the  inward  Word! 

"  That  song  shall  swell  from  shore  to  shore, 
One  hope,  one  faith,  one  love  restore, 
The  seamless  robe  that  Jesus  wore." 


VIII. 

COLUMBUS:    THE  RESULTS  OF  HIS  LIFE. 


249 


VIII. 

COLUMBUS:    THE    RESULTS    OF    HIS 
LIFE.* 

WE  possess  nothing  more  valuable  than  history. 
History  broadens  human  life  by  bringing  the  life 
of  the  one  man  into  touch  with  the  lives  of  all  men. 
History  makes  us  familiar  with  the  shining  foot- 
prints of  God,  who  walks  eternal  among  the  ages. 
History  reveals  the  issue  of  moral  principles  when 
these  are  acted  out  in  life  and  are  carried  to  their 
logical  ultimatum.  History  gathers  for  us  the 
treasures  of  the  past,  and  lays  at  our  feet  the  ex- 
periences and  the  accumulations  and  the  attain- 
ments and  the  ideals  of  those  who  have  lived 
before  us. 

The  advantage  of  living  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury is  this :  we  possess  the  riches  of  all  the  cen- 
turies. Is  it  not  something  to  you  that  somebody 
cleared   the   American   forests,    exterminated   the 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, on  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of 
America, 

253 


254    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

beasts  of  prey,  opened  the  mines,  improved  the 
crops,  built  the  cities,  erected  the  schools  and  the 
churches,  and  made  the  civilization  into  which  you 
were  born  ?  The  doing  of  these  things,  so  far  as 
you  are  concerned,  constitutes  the  difference  be- 
tween riches  and  poverty,  ignorance  and  education, 
hardship  and  luxury,  barbarism  and  civilization. 
There  is  a  difference  between  1492  and  1892.  The 
difference  is  tremendous — tremendous  here  in 
America,  tremendous  the  world  over. 

If  this  be  so,  why  then  should  we  trouble  our- 
selves with  the  past?  It  is  over  and  gone.  We 
have  1892,  and  that  is  all  we  need.  Why  burrow 
in  the  past  and  mine  in  it?  Why?  Because  this 
is  the  only  way  to  make  it  ours  and  compel  service 
from  it.  This  is  the  only  way  to  find  our  possi- 
bilities. We  must  let  history  tell  us  what  other 
men  have  done,  that  wre  may  know  what  we  can 
do.  The  men  of  the  past  who  walk  the  pages  of 
history  still  live ;  their  ambitions  are  contagious 
and  they  inspire  us.  Let  no  one  despise  the  past. 
We  have  not  outgrown  the  need  of  it ;  it  has  great 
men. who  are  still  in  advance  of  us. 

The  Christ  looks  out  at  us  from  the  past.  We 
are  not  through  with  the  Christ,  the  Man  of  Naz- 
areth, who  thought  and  spake  and  acted  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago.  There  are  others  with  whom 
we  are  not  through  and  whom  we  have  not  as  yet 
overtaken.    There  are  lost  arts  which  we  have  not 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OF  HIS  LIFE.    255 

recovered  and  there  is  a  human  genius  of  the  past 
which  is  still  in  advance  of  modern  genius.  There 
are  things  in  the  past  which  have  never  since  been 
reached.  In  stability  of  institutions  China  has  not 
been  surpassed.  In  skill  of  mechanics  Egypt  has 
not  been  reached.  How  were  those  great  Egyp- 
tian structures  which  look  us  in  the  face  reared  ? 
The  splendor  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia  has  never 
been  equaled.  These  old  kingdoms  have  been  dug 
up  by  the  pick  and  spade  of  our  day,  and  we  are 
compelled  to  stand  appalled  before  their  ruined 
grandeur. 

Nineteen  centuries  of  Christendom  have  not 
added  to  the  grace  of  the  Greek  column  or  to  the 
strength  of  the  Roman  arch.  No  book  of  proverbs 
has  gone  beyond  the  wisdom  of  Solomon.  The 
sense  for  beauty  in  the  old  Greeks,  and  the  sense 
for  organization  in  the  old  Romans,  and  the  sense 
for  righteousness  in  the  old  Jews,  can  still  lead  us. 
No  one  has  plucked  the  laurels  from  the  brow  of 
Homer;  no  brush  has  stolen  a  single  tint  from  the 
fame  of  Apelles ;  no  chisel  has  chased  a  line  of 
loveliness  from  Phidias.  The  principles  of  the 
Mosaic  legislation,  many  of  them,  are  still  grand ; 
and  the  works  of  Plato  and  Socrates  and  Aristotle 
are  republished  to-day,  and  are  quoted  as  author- 
ities by  modern  philosophers.  Paul's  logic  and 
thought  are  as  much  abreast  of  the  times  now  as 
they  were  the  day  he  uttered  them.     While  we 


256    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

have  outgrown  the  past  in  ever  so  many  ways,  yet 
enough  of  the  greatness  of  the  past  remains  and 
towers  above  us  to  create  within  us  a  wholesome 
respect  for  the  past.  Where  we  cannot  excel  the 
past  let  us  willingly  allow  it  to  wear  its  laurels;  let 
us  run  out  on  lines  on  which  we  can  excel.  It  is 
our  privilege  to  excel  where  we  can,  and  it  is 
equally  our  privilege  to  use  what  we  cannot  excel. 
If  the  past  has  given  us  any  great  thing  which  we 
cannot  equal,  that  is  a  reason  for  being  thankful  to 
the  past. 

While  there  are  things  belonging  to  the  past 
which  we  cannot  equal,  still  we  are  making  pro- 
gress. Shakespeare  is  not  equaled,  but  yet  there 
is  progress  in  the  coming  of  Wordsworth  and 
Browning  and  Tennyson,  and  also  in  the  coming 
of  our  transatlantic  poets,  Longfellow  and  Lowell 
and  Whittier.  By  their  coming  we  own  Shake- 
speare none  the  less ;  they  are  a  plus ;  they  give  us 
what  Shakespeare  does  not  give  us,  and  they  will 
fill  a  place  and  do  a  work  which  he  cannot  fill  and 
do.  Then,  besides,  there  is  a  growth  in  this,  viz. : 
men,  as  time  has  moved  on,  have  become  better 
able  to  understand  Shakespeare ;  he  is  more  of  a 
power  than  ever  before,  because  of  the  general  and 
universal  growth  which  enables  men  to  use  him 
more.  What  we  say  of  Shakespeare  we  might  also 
say  of  Paul.  Paul  has  not  been  equaled,  but  Paul 
has  produced  Augustine  and  Luther  and  Spurgeon, 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OE  ILLS  LLEE.    257 

and  the  world  is  better  off  with  Paul  plus  these  men. 
Besides  this,  because  of  the  spread  of  Christianity 
there  are  more  people  using  Paul.   All  this  is  growth. 

There  will  never  be  another  Columbus.  There 
will  never  be  an  opportunity  for  any  other  man 
to  do  the  one  thing  which  he  did.  Still,  there  is 
growth  and  progress  in  the  world.  The  right  use 
of  the  continent  which  Columbus  unveiled  is 
progress.  To-day  we  are  really  celebrating  the 
progress  made  on  the  new  continent  during  the 
past  four  hundred  years.  We  are  celebrating 
the  period  rather  than  the  man. 

This  leads  me  to  ask  the  question,  And  what  of 
the  man  Columbus  as  a  factor  in  the  past?  How 
shall  we  place  him  and  rate  him?  To  my  mind 
Columbus  derives  all  his  importance  from  the  fact 
that  God  used  him  and  enabled  him  to  do  one 
thing  which  resulted  in  profit.  So  far  as  he  him- 
self was  concerned,  and  so  far  as  his  plans  went, 
he  was  a  mere  accident  in  relation  to  the  grandeur 
of  what  we  to-day  find  in  this  New  World. 

It  is  the  Columbian  era  that  is  everything,  and 
not  Columbus.  He  had  not  the  first  conception 
of  the  plan  which  God  was  working  out.  God 
saw  the  American  Republic;  he  did  not.  God 
saw  human  freedom  ;  he  did  not.  God  saw  a  new 
world ;  he  saw  only  what  he  supposed  was  an  old 
world.  He  was  only  the  chisel  in  the  hand  of  the 
great  God  Sculptor.     What  does  the  chisel  know 


258    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

of  the  figure  of  beauty  locked  up  in  the  marble? 
Nothing.  But  it  matters  not  that  the  chisel  is 
ignorant  if  the  sculptor  only  have  the  knowledge. 
If  the  sculptor  have  in  his  soul  the  glowing  ideal, 
the  Apollo,  the  Venus,  the  Moses,  will  as  a  neces- 
sity step  out  from  the  marble  into  the  vision  of  the 
admiring  world.  It  is  God  over  man,  ruling  and 
planning  and  working  out  His  glorious  and  perfect 
ideal  for  the  human  race,  that  carries  the  security 
and  progress  of  the  human  race.  This  is  the  high- 
est thing  that  I  can  say  of  Columbus :  he  was  an 
instrument  in  the  hand  of  God,  whereby  God 
chiseled  out  the  future  according  to  the  pattern 
of  an  infinite  ideal. 

In  the  discovery  of  America  God  is  everything; 
He  was  the  only  intelligent  actor;  He  alone  saw 
what  relation  the  opening  of  America  sustained  to 
the  civilization  which  was  to  follow.  This  being 
true,  I  argue  that  one  of  the  lessons  which  Amer- 
ica should  learn  from  the  study  of  its  own  history 
is  this :  God  has  a  mission  for  America,  God  has  a 
claim  upon  America,  and  America  should  joyfully 
and  voluntarily  work  out  its  mission  and  should 
absolutely  and  whole-heartedly  give  itself  up  to 
God. 

In  giving  ourselves  to  the  study  of  the  discovery 
of  America,  let  us  put  in  the  forefront  of  our  think- 
ing this  fact :  the  discovery  of  America  was  not  the 
simple  and  instantaneous  affair  which  it  is  tacitly 


COLUMBUS:    THE  RESULTS  OF  HLS  LLFE.    259 

assumed  to  be  ;  it  was  a  long  process.  It  was  not 
an  event  at  all ;  it  was  an  evolution. 

There  is  a  pre-Columbian  history  and  there  is 
a  post- Columbian  history,  and  both  of  these  are 
as  important  as  the  history  of  the  man  Columbus 
himself.  The  former  opened  the  way  for  Colum- 
bus and  made  him  a  possibility  ;  the  latter  took  up 
what  he  did,  and  developed  it,  and  made  it  effective. 

Without  the  after  explorers,  the  Cabots,  Amer- 
icus  Vespucius,  Magellan,  Cortes,  De  Soto,  Balboa, 
La  Salle,  Champlain,  and  Hudson,  the  discovery  of 
Columbus  would  have  been  like  the  discoveries 
which  preceded  it — it  would  have  been  a  compar- 
atively fruitless  affair.  It  is  equally  true  that 
Columbus  needed  those  who  preceded  him  in 
order  to  his  making  as  well  as  those  who  followed 
him  in  order  to  his  development.  His  inspiration 
as  an  explorer  grew  out  of  what  preceded  him, 

Let  us  turn  a  few  pages  of  the  pre-Columbian 
history  and  see  how  the  world  was  working  up  to 
his  one  great  event,  his  first  voyage — for  this  first 
voyage  was  really  the  only  thing  in  Columbus's 
life  that  had  any  glory  in  it.  Pre-Columbian  his- 
tory tells  us  that  Columbus  was  not  the  first  dis- 
coverer of  America ;  he  was  only  one  discoverer 
among  many ;  he  was  only  the  recoverer  of 
America.  At  the  time  the  bold  Genoese  planned 
his  scheme  of  reaching  the  Indies  by  a  westward 
route,  documents  were  in  existence,  the  Scandina- 


260    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

vian  sagas,  giving  particulars  of  several  visits  to  the 
Northern  American  continent  five  hundred  years 
before.  From  these  writings  we  gather  the  fol- 
lowing : 

Iceland  was  settled  by  the  Norsemen  A.D.  874. 
From  Iceland  the  Norsemen  pushed  up  to  Green- 
land. Eric  the  Red  founded  a  settlement  there  in 
986  ;  this  settlement  he  named  after  himself,  Erics- 
fiord.  One  of  Eric's  companions  was  an  Icelander 
named  Bardson,  who  had  a  son,  Biron,  then  absent 
in  Norway.  When  Biron  came  back  to  Iceland 
he  was  told  that  his  father  had  gone  to  Greenland. 
He  at  once  determined  to  follow  him.  On  this 
voyage  contrary  winds  bore  him  away  from  Green- 
land and  carried  him  to  the  coast  of  North  Amer- 
ica. As  this  land  did  not  correspond  with  the  de- 
scription he  had  of  Greenland,  he  refused  to  land. 
Turning  his  course  northward,  he  continued  until 
he  reached  Greenland.  The  distance  from  the 
southern  point  of  Greenland  to  Labrador  is  only 
six  hundred  miles,  but  little  more  than  the  distance 
from  Norway  to  England. 

Biron  was  the  first  European  to  discover  the 
shores  of  North  America.  This  was  nothing  in 
itself,  but  it  led  to  something  further.  Biron  re- 
lated his  experience  to  Eric,  and  Leif,  the  son  of 
Eric,  fitted  out  an  expedition  to  go  and  explore 
this  land.  He  sailed  in  the  year  1000  A.D.,  with 
a  crew  of  twenty-five  men.     In  four  days  they 


COLUMBUS:    THE  RESULTS  OF  HLS  LLEE.    261 

came  to  Labrador,  after  that  to  Nova  Scotia ;  from 
here  they  sailed  until  they  reached  an  island  which 
they  called  Vineland,  because  of  its  abundance  of 
grapes.  This  island  was  somewhere  off  the  coast 
of  Massachusetts  or  Rhode  Island.  Here  they 
erected  huts  and  gave  the  settlement  the  name  of 
Leifsbuthir. 

It  is  to  Leif  Ericson  that  Boston  has  erected  a 
monument  on  Commonwealth  Avenue,  its  leading 
avenue.  Leif  Ericson  returned  to  Iceland,  and 
the  accounts  which  he  gave  of  America  caused  an- 
other expedition  to  sail,  1004  A.D.,  underThorwald. 
Thorwald  landed  on  a  promontory  below  Cape 
Cod,  Massachusetts.  Here  he  was  attacked  by  the 
Indians.  In  the  battle  he  received  a  wound  which 
proved  fatal.  His  last  words  were  the  request, 
"  Let  me  be  buried  on  yonder  promontory,  which 
I  so  admire."  His  followers  carried  out  his  request 
and  then  returned  home.  This  was  the  first  white 
man's  grave  on  our  continent. 

The  third  expedition  was  a  failure.  It  was 
under  the  third  son  of  Eric,  who  sailed  with  his 
wife,  Gudrida,  the  first  white  woman  explorer  to 
come  to  the  shores  of  America.  Its  object  was  to 
bring  back  the  body  of  Thorwald,  buried  on  the 
New  England  promontory.  This  expedition  sailed 
from  Iceland,  but  when  it  reached  Greenland 
Thorstein  died.  The  next  spring  his  widow 
brought  the  ship  back  to  Iceland. 


262     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year,  1006,  a 
much  more  important  expedition  was  fitted  out. 
It  was  under  the  command  of  Thorfinn  the  Hope- 
ful. Thorfinn,  captivated  by  the  charms  of  Gud- 
rida,  Thorstein's  widow,  married  her  and  brought 
into  his  life  her  daring  and  courage.  There  were 
three  ships  and  one  hundred  and  forty  men  in  this 
expedition,  a  larger  expedition  than  that  of  Colum- 
bus. As  this  was  an  attempt  to  found  a  permanent 
colony,  all  sorts  of  necessaries  were  taken  on  board 
the  ships,  including  live  stock  and  domesticanimals. 

This  expedition  came  down  as  far  as  Martha's 
Vineyard  and  anchored  in  Buzzard's  Bay.  While 
here  one  of  the  captains  of  the  company,  Thorhall 
by  name,  was  despatched  with  a  small  ship  to  look 
for  the  settlement  of  Leif  Ericson.  This  man  had 
a  most  untoward  fate.  A  westerly  gale  took  him 
and  drove  him  right  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  coast 
of  Ireland,  where  he  and  his  crew  were  all  made 
slaves.  Thorhall,  although  against  his  will,  was 
the  first  to  hold  the  honor  of  sailing  right  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  from  shore  to  shore.  And, 
what  is  still  more  remarkable,  this  first  voyage 
from  the  one  continent  to  the  other,  in  a  temperate- 
zone  latitude,  was  from  west  to  east,  from  the 
New  World  to  the  Old  World. 

Meanwhile  Thorfinn  prosecuted  his  journey 
farther  south  and  founded  a  colony.  Here,  in  this 
American    colony,   Thorfinn    and    Gudrida   were 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OF  HIS  LIFE.    263 

blessed  by  the  birth  of  a  son,  the  first  native-born 
American  of  European  parents.  The  new  son  re- 
ceived the  name  Snorre.  He  was  taken  to  Iceland 
when  the  colony,  after  great  hardships,  returned 
home,  and  afterward  he  became  a  famous  scholar 
and  bishop.  Among  his  lineal  descendants  is 
included  Thorwaldsen,  the  famous  sculptor.  How 
strange  to  think  that  the  great  Norwegian  sculptor's 
genealogy  should  come  by  the  way  of  America! 
It  is  supposed  that  Snorre  wrote  the  sagas  from 
which  we  have  derived  this  information  about  these 
voyages  of  the  hardy  Norsemen,  the  most  daring 
mariners  of  ancient  times. 

Had  the  Icelandic  explorers  only  possessed  what 
Columbus  possessed,  viz.,  firearms  to  enable  them 
to  successfully  defend  themselves  against  the  In- 
dians, North  America  would  have  been  the  first  to 
have  been  Europeanized.  A  race  of  men  equal  to 
any  upon  the  globe  would  have  been  here.  But, 
as  it  was,  nothing  came  out  of  these  explorations 
save  that  a  few  furs  were  taken  to  Iceland  and  a 
cargo  or  two  of  American  timber. 

The  discovery  by  the  Norsemen  was  not  the 
only  pre-Columbian  discovery  of  America.  Fred- 
erick Saunders,  the  librarian  of  the  Astor  Library, 
New  York,  has  published  the  story  of  another 
pre-Columbian  discovery.  His  story  is  the  story 
of  a  Welsh  colony  which,  under  the  leadership  of 
Prince  Modoc  of  Wales,  settled  in  the  twelfth  cen- 


OF   THE 

TIVERSITY  ] 


264    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

tury  among  the  red  men  of  the  West.  This  colony- 
continued  to  preserve  its  native  speech  and  cus- 
toms for  five  hundred  years.  This  accounts  for 
the  puzzling  wonder  discovered  in  after  times, 
viz.,  certain  clans  of  Indians  who  spoke  the  Welsh 
vernacular.  They  received  their  speech  from  this 
Welsh  colony. 

There  is  still  another  story  to  be  noticed.  It  is 
in  effect  this.  In  1482,  ten  years  before  the  voy- 
age of  Columbus,  a  Spanish  pilot  named  Sanchez, 
while  attempting  a  passage  between  Madeira  and 
the  Canaries,  was  driven  from  his  course  by  a  storm 
and  landed  on  the  shores  of  an  island  said  to  be 
Haiti.  Subsequently  this  pilot  came  to  Lisbon  and 
found  lodgment  with  Columbus,  to  whom  he  re- 
lated the  facts,  and  at  whose  house  he  subsequently 
died. 

How  much  inspiration  Columbus  got  from  the 
Norsemen  we  cannot  assert,  but  this  we  can  assert : 
he  sailed  as  far  north  as  Iceland,  where  the  Scandi- 
navian sagas  were  which  contained  the  stories  of  the 
Norsemen  voyagers.  The  air  of  his  age  was  full 
of  the  spirit  of  navigation,  and  he  breathed  that 
air.  He  had  the  writings  of  Marco  Polo  and  John 
de  Mandeville.  Both  of  these  men  were  audacious 
romancers  and  explorers.  They  had  pushed  to  the 
very  limits  of  the  East,  and  their  accounts  of  its 
gold  and  luxury  set  all  Europe  on  fire  with  a  de- 
sire to  possess  the  treasures  of  the  East.     The  art 


COLUMBUS:  THE  RESULTS  OF  LI  IS  LLFE.    2  60 

of  printing  had  brought  out  of  their  hiding-places 
the  old  classics,  and  Columbus  had  these.  Some 
of  these  spoke  of  an  Atlantic  land.  Columbus  had 
married  the  daughter  of  a  distinguished  explorer. 
While  a  girl  she  had  made  several  hazardous  voy- 
ages with  her  father  and  was  an  enthusiast  herself. 
Through  her  Columbus  came  into  possession  of 
all  the  results  of  her  father's  experience,  as  she 
inherited  his  charts  and  journals. 

But,  above  all,  the  famous  letters  of  Toscanelli 
had  been  written.  This  scholar  in  his  letters 
openly  advocated  the  practicability  of  reaching 
Japan  and  China  by  sailing  directly  west.  This 
was  precisely  what  Columbus  attempted  to  do; 
this  is  what  he  thought  he  had  done,  and  he  died 
thinking  so.  He  died  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  it 
was  a  new  world  that  he  gave  Castile  and  Leon. 

We  have  now  reached  the  story  of  Columbus 
himself.  For  eighteen  years  he  cherished  his  vision  ; 
for  eighteen  years  he  believed  in  himself.  This 
was  the  secret  of  his  power.  For  eighteen  years 
he  knocked  in  vain  at  the  doors  of  the  courts  of 
the  reigning  monarchs  of  Europe.  At  last  he  won 
the  confidence  of  that  queenly  woman,  Isabella. 
She  became  the  power  back  of  Columbus  and  the 
power  that  sustained  him  all  through  his  Atlantic 
career.  It  was  a  woman's  faith  and  a  woman's 
smile  of  encouragement  that  were  back  of  the 
effective  discovery  of  America,  and  this  woman 


266    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

came  upon  the  scene  at  the  critical  moment,  the 
moment  of  peril. 

The  little  fleet  of  three  vessels,  the  Santa  Maria, 
the  Pinta,  and  the  Nina,  sailed  from  Palos  August 
3,  1492.  The  three  crews  consisted  of  about  one 
hundred  men  in  all.  How  were  these  crews  re- 
cruited? Men  were  not  anxious  to  go  on  such  a 
foolhardy  journey ;  they  peopled  the  ocean  with 
all  manner  of  horrid  monsters.  They  had  no  faith 
in  Columbus ;  they  looked  upon  him  as  a  man  not 
rightly  balanced  in  mind.  It  was  therefore  difficult 
to  get  a  crew.  Special  inducements  were  offered : 
immunity  from  the  pursuit  of  justice  was  offered; 
criminals  were  offered  pardon  if  they  would  go; 
debtors  were  offered  release  from  all  obligations  if 
they  would  go.  The  fleet  was  made  up  of  run- 
away criminals  and  debtors.  The  character  of  the 
fleet  accounts  for  the  after  mutinies  and  the  after 
dangers  of  Columbus,  who  was  at  the  mercy  of 
such  men.  Nevertheless  the  expedition  was  a 
success. 

Columbus  successfully  handled  his  crew.  I  do 
not  need  to  relate  the  sufferings  of  the  voyage,  nor 
tell  of  the  hopes  and  the  fears.  To  me  the  thrill- 
ing part  of  the  story  is  the  end — reaching  land  just 
when  hope  was  about  to  become  despair.  The 
first  thing  that  cheered  the  crew  were  the  signs  of 
approaching  shores.  Herbage  carried  out  by  the 
tide  floated  around  the  ships.     Land  birds,  with 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OF  HIS  LIFE.    267 

flashing  plumage  as  brilliant  as  the  hues  of  the 
rainbow,  circled  in  the  air  overhead ;  they  perched 
on  the  topmasts  and  poured  out  their  thrilling 
songs  of  welcome. 

Lamartine  tells  us  that  a  little  bird's  nest,  built 
on  a  branch  which  the  wind  had  broken  off,  and 
full  of  eggs  on  which  the  parent  bird  was  sitting, 
gracefully  floated  by  one  of  the  ships,  now  rising 
and  now  falling  upon  the  swelling  waves.  That, 
without  a  doubt,  meant  land,  and  land  very  close 
at  hand.  All  these  were  voices  from  the  shores. 
They  put  soul  into  the  care-worn  and  exhausted 
sailors.  The  last  night  of  sailing  has  come,  and  all 
the  sails  are  tightly  reefed.  The  ships  draw  near 
into  a  realm  of  intangible  mystery.  There  is  no 
sleep  for  a  single  soul ;  all  minds  are  kindled  with 
a  fever  of  intellectual  suspense.  Columbus  walks 
the  upper  deck  and  scans  the  horizon  with  his  eager 
eye.  It  is  pitch-dark.  Suddenly  he  stops.  What 
is  it  that  gleams  out  yonder  between  sea  and  sky  ? 
He  looks  with  all  his  might.  What  is  it?  As  God 
lives,  it  is  a  light — a  light !  Yes,  but  what  sort  of 
a  light?  It  cannot  be  a  star;  it  is  not  diamond- 
pointed,  as  God's  stars  are ;  it  is  ragged  and  flick- 
ering, like  every  light  of  human  kindling.  Alas! 
it  is  gone ;  it  was  the  illusion  of  an  overwrought 
brain.  No  ;  there  it  is  again  ;  it  moves — it  waves ; 
it  is  a  torch-light  upon  some  shore.  Hark !  a  great 
boom  sounds  from  the  Pinta;  her  guns  sound  again 


268  Makers  of  the  American  republic. 

and  again.  God  be  praised !  Her  crew,  too,  has 
seen  the  light  on  the  shore.  It  is  all  settled,  for 
that  is  land,  and  that  is  a  light  on  the  shore  carried 
by  an  Indian  hand.  The  voyage  is  a  success. 
Columbus  has  won  his  greatest  glory. 

You  know  what  followed — the  landing  the  next 
morning,  the  setting  up  of  the  cross,  the  prayer  to 
God,  and  the  song  of  praise.  You  know  the  re- 
turn to  Spain — the  reception  by  king  and  queen, 
the  procession  at  Barcelona,  with  its  American 
Indians  in  front,  its  American  products,  its  gold 
and  spices,  and  its  treasures.  You  know,  too,  the 
enthusiasm  for  exploration  which  followed,  and 
how  quickly  a  new  expedition  was  fitted  out  with 
a  different  type  of  fleet  and  crew.  A  sky-rocket 
of  success  had  gone  up  into  the  sky,  and  brilliant 
showers  of  enthusiasm  fell  all  over  Europe. 

We  have  passed  in  our  narrative  the  zenith  of 
Columbus's  glory.  There  was  nothing  great  after 
this.  There  were  voyages,  but  they  were  fruit- 
less ;  there  were  mutinies,  cruelties,  slavery,  disap- 
pointment, displacements,  sickness,  chains,  poverty, 
neglect,  a  broken  heart,  death.  When  Queen  Isa- 
bella died  Columbus  lost  his  only  influential  friend. 
Ferdinand,  the  king,  only  trifled  with  him.  Co- 
lumbus had  cost  him  more  money  than  he  had 
brought  in.  All  his  discoveries,  from  a  mone- 
tary point  of  view,  were  failures ;  but  money, 
riches,  these  were  the  things  Ferdinand  wanted 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OE  ILLS  LLEE.    269 

and  these  were  the  things  Columbus  had  promised 
to  secure. 

The  story  of  Columbus's  death  is  a  sad  one. 
He  died  neglected  and  forsaken ;  he  died  so  ob- 
scurely that  his  death  was  scarcely  known ;  he 
died  in  a  little  miserable  room,  bare  and  unsightly, 
the  only  ornaments  being  the  chains  which  bound 
him  when  he  was  sent  home  from  America  as  a 
prisoner.  The  priest  was  there  and  a  few  atten- 
dants, but  that  was  all.  These  tell  us  that  he  said, 
"  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit," 
and  then  all  was  over. 

Do  you  wonder  that  he  died  unnoticed  and  for- 
gotten ?  The  reason  was,  others  had  pushed  past 
him  in  the  rush  of  the  age.  The  exploits  of  other 
voyagers  had  caught  the  public  ear  and  monopolized 
public  attention.  Americus  Vespucius  had  returned 
from  his  second  voyage  and  was  talking  to  all  Eu- 
rope of  things  Columbus  knew  nothing  about.  The 
Cabots  had  been  to  North  America  and  were  talk- 
ing about  what  they  had  found  there.  Columbus 
never  set  foot  upon  North  America.  Balboa  and 
Magellan  had  already  completed  their  apprentice- 
ship and  were  on  their  way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Already  the  fishermen  from  Portugal  were  plying 
their  vocation  upon  the  banks  of  Newfoundland 
with  profit,  and  Valasco,  the  Spaniard,  was  on  his 
way  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  daring  and  the 
success  of  others  overshadowed  Columbus,  and  he 


270     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

was  lost  sight  of  by  the  great  world.  This  was  the 
reason  he  was  allowed  to  die  in  the  lonely  and  un- 
noticed way  in  which  he  did  die. 

Such  is  the  story  of  Columbus  told  in  a  broken, 
fragmentary  way.  What  now  is  our  judgment 
with  regard  to  him?  He  is  not  the  Columbus 
who  was  the  object  of  our  hero-worship  when  we 
were  children.  The  search-light  of  history  has 
cleared  his  life  of  myths  and  has  completely  obliter- 
ated the  Columbus  of  romance.  It  is  shown  that 
most  of  the  thrilling  stories  about  Columbus  which 
have  captivated  us  are  to  be  regarded  as  apocry- 
phal. The  world  hitherto  has  been  worshiping  an 
idealized  man  and  not  the  real  man.  Columbus 
was  not  a  saint.  I  say  this  in  the  interest  of  ac- 
curate scholarship.  Such  works  as  those  of  Henry 
Harriss  and  Justin  Winsor,  the  librarian  of  Harvard, 
and  Dr.  Adams,  the  late  president  of  Cornell,  show 
that  Columbus  can  never  be  canonized  on  merit  of 
character.  His  character  is  a  thing  exceedingly 
problematical. 

The  works  of  these  scholars  which  I  have  men- 
tioned are  all  written  in  the  interest  of  the  truth 
and  after  the,  modern  idea  of  fairness  and  impar- 
tiality in  biography-writing.  The  old  idea  of  the 
biographer  was  this :  he  must  be  the  eulogist  and 
apologist  and  advocate  of  his  hero.  The  modern 
idea  of  the  biographer  is  this;   he  must  first  and 


COL  UMB  US :   THE  RES  UL  TS  OF  HIS  LIFE.    271 

always  seek  the  facts  and  tell  the  truth  about  the 
man  whose  biography  he  writes. 

These  are  some  of  the  facts  in  the  story  of 
Columbus.  He  was  a  pirate  in  the  early  part  of 
his  life  ;  he  sailed  several  times  with  the  Portuguese 
slave-ships  to  the  coast  of  Guinea  to  capture  slaves. 
In  his  journal  he  admits  that  land  was  first  seen 
and  announced  by  Roderigo  de  Triana,  of  the 
Phita,  at  two  o'clock,  October  I2th;  but  on  his 
return  to  Spain  he  set  up  the  demand  for  himself 
that  he  first  saw  land,  and  claimed  and  received 
from  the  sovereigns  the  special  money  which  had 
been  offered  as  a  reward  to  the  man  who  should 
first  see  the  land.  His  will  shows  that  his  son 
Fernando  was  born  out  of  wedlock.  His  first 
letters  glow  with  accounts  of  the  gentleness  of  the 
Indians;  he  praises  their  hospitality.  When  his 
vessel  was  shipwrecked  they  gave  him  every  pos- 
sible aid ;  some  of  them  even  shed  tears  of  sym- 
pathy. You  know  what  followed,  how  he  repaid 
this  kindness  and  love  of  the  Indians.  I  cannot 
speak  of  the  horrors  inflicted  upon  the  Indian 
women.  And  there  was  no  protest  from  Colum- 
bus ;  nay,  he  made  excuses  for  the  conduct  of  his 
brutal  crew.  Because  husbands  protected  their 
wives  and  daughters  and  declared  war  to  the  hilt 
of  the  knife,  he  captured  and  enslaved  the  red  men 
and  shipped  whole  cargoes  of  Indians  as  slaves  to 


272     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Spain.  This  he  did  in  the  face  of  the  rebuke  ad- 
ministered to  him  by  Queen  Isabella. 

He  advocated  and  prosecuted  the  slave-trade  as 
a  means  of  procuring  riches  for  Spain.  His  chief 
aim  in  all  that  he  did  was  riches.  Above  all  things 
he  was  eager  for  gold  and  fame  and  titles  and  per- 
sonal advancement.  But  was  there  no  religion 
in  his  life?  There  was.  It  was  not  nineteenth- 
century  religion,  however.  He  always  carried  the 
cross  with  him,  and  he  always  said  he  would  devote 
his  gains  to  a  crusade  to  take  the  Holy  Sepulcher 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  infidel  Moslems.  That 
constituted  religion  in  his  day.  Charles  V.  was 
religious;  Philip  II.  was  religious;  they  erected 
the  cross  everywhere,  and  in  the  name  of  the  cross 
committed  all  manner  of  crimes.  The  religion  of 
Columbus  was  akin  to  their  religion. 

One  reason  why  we  should  be  thankful  to-day 
is  that  religion  has  grown  since  the  day  of  Colum- 
bus. To  be  religious  after  his  kind  to-day  would 
put  a  man  behind  the  prison  bars  and  blackball  his 
character  out  of  the  fellowship  of  the  true  church 
of  God.  What  I  rejoice  in  to-day  is  this :  the 
world  has  outgrown  Columbus  and  the  religion  of 
Columbus,  and  demands  an  infinitely  higher  type 
of  manhood. 

When  I  put  Columbus  upon  the  background  of 
1892  I  can  find  nothing  in  him  to  admire  but  his 
genius,   and   his  faith   in   himself,  and  his  push. 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OE  HIS  LIEE.    273 

Following  his  faith  and  genius,  he  performed  a 
work  he  did  not  know  he  was  performing,  and  be- 
came a  benefactor  of  the  world  by  accident.  If 
you  wish  to  respect  Columbus  you  must  keep  him 
back  in  1492. 

One  act  of  this  man  is  all  that  I  celebrate,  viz., 
his  running  the  prow  of  the  Santa  Maria  upon  the 
American  shore.  I  celebrate  the  period  which 
follows  that  act;  I  celebrate  the  progress  which 
God  has  evolved  by  means  of  the  years  between 
1492  and  1892. 

Farewell,  Columbus.  I  honor  you  back  there 
in  1492.  You  are  better  than  Ferdinand;  you  are 
better  than  Bobadilla ;  you  are  better  than  Ovando. 
I  deplore  the  treatment  you  received  from  these ; 
it  was  unjust  and  cruel.  You  are  better  than 
Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  but  I  prefer  the  nine- 
teenth century.  I  prefer  liberty  to  slavery.  I 
prefer  the  policy  of  William  Penn  to  the  policy  of 
the  bullet  and  the  knife  in  dealing  with  the  Indians. 
I  prefer  the  virtue  that  respects  the  womanhood  of 
all  races  to  the  virtue  that  can  keep  silent  because 
the  womanhood  being  trampled  underfoot  is  that 
of  an  alien  race.  I  celebrate  the  period ;  I  celebrate 
the  fact  that  we  are  four  centuries  away  from 
Columbus.  As  an  American  I  celebrate  America, 
American  progress,  American  opportunity. 

Let  me  give  you  some  of  the  points  which  I 
keep  before  my  mind  as  an  incentive  to  this  Co- 


274     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

lumbian  celebration.  We  are  celebrating  the  science 
of  discovery  and  not  the  science  of  war. 

This  indicates  a  new  epoch  in  history-making, 
and  to  me  there  is  no  better  index  of  advance 
than  this  new  epoch.  What  has  history  been 
hitherto?  What  has  controlled  history?  Who 
have  figured  upon  the  pages  of  history,  captivat- 
ing eye  and  heart  and  making  the  future  of  man- 
kind? These  are  leading  questions.  Tell  me 
what  history  is,  and  I  will  forecast  for  you  the 
future. 

History  has  a  power  parallel  to  the  power  of  fine 
painting.  In  the  art  salons  in  the  palace  of  Ver- 
sailles there  are  miles  and  miles  of  battle  scenes. 
Any  one  can  tell  what  the  education  gotten  through 
the  eye  by  these  pictures  means.  It  means  the 
domination  of  France  by  the  spirit  of  militarism. 
Put  other  pictures  in  that  national  art-gallery, 
pictures  of  the  leading  French  scientists,  pictures 
illustrative  of  their  experiments,  pictures  showing 
their  marvelous  triumphs,  and  you  will  make  the 
rising  generation  scientists  and  give  the  spirit  of 
science  the  domination  of  the  land. 

I  want  to  assert  it  here  that,  according  to  my 
thinking,  it  is  a  gross  outrage  upon  all  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  when  Christendom  is  busy 
making  swords  and  spears  and  Gatling  guns  and 
ironclads.  When  it  is  busy  doing  this  it  is  clash- 
ing with  God's  pacific  purposes  and  smiting  the 


COLUMBUS:   THE  RESULTS  OF  LLLS  LLEE.    275 

cross  with  lightning.  War  and  the  cross  are  as 
much  in  antagonism  as  were  the  cruel  slavery  of 
Columbus,  forced  upon  the  Indians,  and  the  dying 
love  of  Jesus,  symbolized  by  the  cross  which  he 
erected  upon  American  shores. 

I  hold  history  largely  responsible  for  the  exis- 
tence of  war.  History  is  written  in  such  a  way  as 
to  make  war  popular.  Who  walk  the  pages  of  his- 
tory ?  Warriors,  and  they  are  represented  as  the 
great  heroes  of  the  world — almost  the  sole  heroes 
of  the  world.  They  crowd  all  others  into  the 
background.  History  must  be  rewritten.  War 
heroes  must  be  made  to  take  a  subordinate  place 
in  history.  The  world's  thinkers  and  workers,  the 
world's  missionaries,  scientists,  educators,  these 
must  be  crowned  with  laurels.  The  genius  of  in- 
dustry must  be  exalted.  '  When  this  is  done  men 
will  aim  at  being  missionaries,  educators,  explorers, 
scientists,  philanthropists,  workers.  Such  celebra- 
tions as  this  lead  to  this  needed  rewriting  of  the 
world's  history,  and  of  the  exaltation  of  character 
and  of  life  and  of  exploits  that  make  for  peace  and 
for  the  triumph  of  mind  and  soul  in  the  world. 

Another  point  I  keep  before  my  mind  for  rec- 
ognition and  inspiration.  It  is  this :  we  are  cele- 
brating the  overrule  of  God  in  human  history. 

Columbus  is  nothing;  God  is  everything.  God 
could  have  discovered  America  without  Columbus. 
It  was  discovered  independent  of  Columbus  and  in 


276    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

another  way.  While  Columbus  was  struggling 
with  his  rebellious  colony  in  Hispaniola,  Pedro 
Cabral,  a  citizen  of  Portugal,  with  a  fleet  of  thir- 
teen vessels,  sailing  on  his  way  to  Calcutta,  was 
blown  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  Brazil.  It  was 
because  of  this  fact  that  Portugal  afterward  claimed 
Brazil.  Portugal  virtually  owned  it  even  down 
to  the  days  of  Dom  Pedro,  when  it  became  a  re- 
public. 

God  works  in  long  periods,  and  this  is  illustrated 
in  the  history  of  the  discovery  and  population  of 
America.  Yet,  while  God  works  in  long  periods, 
everything  is  timed  to  the  hour,  and  each  event  has 
its  place  and  order.  The  compass  must  come 
to  make  navigation  possible.  The  astrolabe  and 
quadrant  must  come,  so  that  the  navigator  can 
make  out  his  exact  distance  from  the  equator  by 
the  altitude  of  the  sun.  These  instruments  make 
man  perfectly  at  home  upon  the  sea ;  they  unchain 
the  ocean  from  the  old  bondage  of  timidity  and 
fear.  Now  men  may  learn  that  God  intended  the 
ocean  not  to  be  a  dividing  waste,  separating  con- 
tinent from  continent,  but  He  meant  it  to  be  a 
highway  between  land  and  land,  whitened  with  the 
sails  of  a  universal  commerce. 

After  the  opening  of  the  highways  oi  the  sea, 
the  art  of  printing  must  come,  and  then  the  art  of 
making  paper.  These  give  the  Bible  to  the  world. 
It  is  time  now  for  the  discovery  of  America,  a  new 


COLUMBUS:  THE  RESULTS  OF  HLS  LLFE.    277 

land  for  a  new  and  a  higher  life,  and  America  is 
discovered.  But,  mark  you,  while  discovered, 
America  is  not  at  once  populated.  The  time  has 
not  come  for  that.  It  must  be  explored  first,  and 
the  world  must  be  taught  just  what  America  is. 

A  century  and  a  half  passes  before  God  lets  the 
people  in.  A  century  and  a  half  is  needed  for  the 
Bible  to  work  its  way  in  Europe  and  prepare  a 
people  for  the  prepared  land.  At  the  right  time 
the  prepared  people  come  to  New  England  and 
build  up  institutions  there  according  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Scriptures.  The  Atlantic  coast  is  made 
a  fountain  of  liberty  and  law  and  righteousness. 
When  the  Atlantic  coast  becomes  strong  enough 
to  influence  the  whole  land  for  God  and  truth,  a 
Western  pioneer  finds  a  flake  of  gold  in  the  Rock- 
ies, and  in  a  single  decade  a  whole  nation  pours 
out  into  the  great  West.  But  not  gold,  nor  the 
glory  of  kings,  nor  the  pride  of  power,  made  the 
discovery  of  America  worth  while.  No.  The 
tremendous  impulse  and  opportunity  which  it  gave 
to  mental  activity,  and  the  wonderful  loosening  of 
shackles  which  it  brought,  and  the  field  which  it 
furnished  for  the  American  Republic — these  only 
made  the  discovery  of  America  worth  while. 

I  can  mention  only  one  point  more.  It  is  this: 
we  are  celebrating  the  possibilities  of  the  future. 
Whose  future?  Our  future.  For  it  is  true,  as 
Emerson  says,  "  America  stands  for  opportunity." 


278     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC, 

It  stands  for  opportunity  in  the  development  of  a 
magnificent  patriotism  and  of  magnificent  ideals. 

I  am  glad  of  one  thing,  and  that  is,  this  is  a  time 
devoted  to  the  honoring  of  the  American  flag. 
The  old  flag  is  waved  in  our  public  schools  and 
it  floats  from  the  windows  of  our  homes;  it  is  in 
the  breeze  everywhere.  This  week  in  Chicago  it 
will  be  thrown  irt  the  form  of  pyrotechnics  into  the 
open  heaven  at  midnight  to  blaze  above  the  dedi- 
cated buildings  of  the  World's  Fair. 

One  of  the  promised  attractions  of  the  week  in 
Chicago  is  a  fiery  simulation  of  our  country's  flag 
floating  in  the  air.  A  vast  cloud  of  smoke  will  be 
tossed  high  into  the  dome  to  form  the  blue  field ; 
into  this  forty-four  mortars  will  discharge  as  many 
bombs,  carefully  timed  to  explode  simultaneously, 
which  will  form  forty-four  stars;  other  mortars 
will  fire  shells  at  the  same  time,  loaded  with 
colored  explosives  which  in  bursting  will  throw 
out  long  streamers  of  red,  white,  and  blue  to  form 
bars.  The  whole  will  produce  a  gigantic  Ameri- 
can flag,  with  colors  harmoniously  blended. 

Americans,  let  this  be  the  occasion  when  you 
shall  run  up  the  stars  and  stripes  in  your  hearts  and 
when  you  shall  consecrate  yourselves  anew  to  the 
highest  patriotism. 


IX. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  A  FACTOR  IN 
AMERICAN    HISTORY. 


279 


IX. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON    A    FACTOR   IN 
AMERICAN    HISTORY.* 

My  fellow-citizens,  it  is  a  grand  thing  for  a 
nation  to  have  grand  men  for  ancestors ;  to  have 
a  history  the  opening  pages  of  which  are  crowded 
with  interest,  the  first  chapters  of  which  are  filled 
with  God  and  with  human  heroism,  the  product 
of  man's  alliance  with  God.  Such  a  history  will 
send  a  holy  and  an  inspiring  thrill  through  the 
body  politic  age  after  age.  Such  ancestors  will 
stand  as  eternal  sentinels,  guarding  the  liberties  of 
the  nation  and  the  principles  of  the  nation  and  the 
faith  of  the  nation.  Such  men  will  rebuke  and 
commend  and  lead  the  nation  perpetually. 

You  see  the  bearing  of  all  this.  It  leads  us 
directly  to  the  topic  of  the  evening,  which  intro- 
duces us  to  the  great  ancestor  of  the  American 
Republic,  George  Washington.     Our  civil  fathers, 

*  Delivered  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Brooklyn,  at  the  cele- 
bration of  Washington's  birthday  by  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public. 

283 


284    MAKERS  OE  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

whom  George  Washington  led,  were  men  fired  by 
a  world-wide  purpose,  which  came  from  the  heart 
of  God.  Guided  and  sustained  by  this  purpose, 
they  took  possession  of  this  continent  for  us,  and 
they  left  us  as  a  heritage  the  embodiment  of  their 
principles  in  our  vast  and  honored  Republic.  They 
planted  the  seed  which  grew  the  national  tree  under 
which  we  live.  The  product  of  their  life  is  grand, 
but,  grand  as  it  is,  it  is  only  a  prophecy  of  what 
shall  be.  We  have  not  yet  reached  ultimate 
America,  nor  even  typical  America.  Typical 
America  is  yet  in  the  future.  There  are  prayers 
of  our  national  fathers  still  before  the  throne  of 
God  awaiting  an  answer.  The  prayers  of  George 
Washington  at  Valley  Forge  were  broader  than 
Valley  Forge,  and  these  prayers  are  still  before 
God.  God  feels  their  strong  pulsations,  which 
beat  in  unison  with  His  own  purposes  for  America, 
and  He  is  keeping  them  constantly  in  sight  for  the 
coming  of  the  right  day.  When  that  day  comes 
they  will  be  translated  from  divine  decrees  into 
human  realities.  George  Washington  is  not  yet 
through  with  the  American  Republic,  and  God 
grant  that  he  never  may  be.  When  the  Republic 
breaks  with  the  father  of  our  country  the  doom  of 
the  Republic  will  be  forever  sealed.  Let  the  cele- 
bration of  Washington's  birthday  go  forward.  It 
is  in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  the  great  Ruler 
of  the  universe,  who  Himself  crowns  every  true 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  285 

man,  and  who  issues  His  decree  that  the  righteous 
shall  be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance.  Let 
North  and  South  be  one  in  honoring  the  man; 
let  music  and  artillery  and  pyrotechnics  grace  his 
memory ;  let  mature  scholarship  praise  the  states- 
manship of  the  eighteenth  century ;  let  burning 
eloquence  depict  the  glory  and  advance  of  the 
nation  for  which  Washington  lived ;  let  the  voice 
of  prayer  reverently  rise  to  God  upon  this  day,  and 
commit  the  nation's  future  to  the  God  who  made 
the  nation's  past. 

In  contributing  my  part  to  the  celebration  of 
to-night,  I  wish,  in  the  presence  of  the  brave  men 
of  America  who  fought  for  the  life  of  the  Republic 
which  George  Washington  gave  us,  to  tell  the  story 
of  George  Washington  and  then  evolve  from  that 
story  some  lessons  of  American  patriotism. 

Owing  to  the  limit  of  time,  our  picture  of  Wash- 
ington this  evening  must  be  the  merest  charcoal 
sketch — an  outline  and  nothing  more.  But  in  this 
outline  we  wish  to  see  the  real  Washington  and 
not  the  traditional  Washington ;  the  historical 
Washington  and  not  the  idealized  Washington ;  the 
prose  Washington  and  not  the  poetic  Washington ; 
Washington  the  man  and  not  Washington  the 
myth ;  Washington  as  seen  in  the  clear,  open  sun- 
light and  not  Washington  as  seen  in  the  haze  of 
eulogy.  We  protest  against  every  tendency  to 
starch  and  stiffen  and  costumize  this  plain,  honest 


286    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

farmer,  who  was  faulty  in  his  grammar  and  ellip* 
tical  in  his  spelling.  Let  Washington  be  kept 
humanized.  For  my  part,  I  am  accustomed  to 
take  comfort  from  what  Washington  zvas  not  as 
well  as  from  what  he  was. 

He  owed  nothing  to  birth.  The  light  of  no  an- 
cestral glory  haloed  his  brow.  No  bluer  blood 
flowed  in  his  veins  than  that  which  flowed  in  the 
veins  of  ten  thousand  other  Americans.  He  was 
not  a  brilliant  man,  as  men  who  rule  and  lead  in 
the  world  of  letters  are  brilliant ;  he  was  not  pos- 
sessed of  brilliant  parts,  like  a  diamond  which  can 
be  turned  in  the  sunlight ;  his  was  not  so  much  the 
genius  of  intellect,  although  he  had  enough  of  that, 
as  it  was  the  genius  of  character.  I  rejoice  in  this, 
because  the  genius  of  character  is  attainable  by 
all.  The  man  who  lives  in  right  relations  with  the 
truth  and  with  the  right  and  with  God,  and  who 
deals  in  noble  and  honest  and  brave  things,  can 
and  does  build  up  a  true  character.  True  charac- 
ter-building is  within  the  power  of  every  mortal. 

"  But  Washington  was  a  providential  man,"  you 
say.  Yes ;  but  so  may  you  be  a  providential  man 
if  you  will..  Every  man  who  absolutely  yields 
himself  up  to  God  and  to  the  call  of  the  hour,  and 
who  explicitly  and  implicitly  follows  the  openings 
of  Providence,  is  a  providential  man  in  the  full 
length  and  breadth  and  sweep  of  his  life.  And 
he  is  as  necessary  a  man  in  his  place  as  George 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  287 

Washington  was  in  his.  I  do  not  regret  that 
Washington  was  not  a  brilliant  man.  A  man  of 
character  is  infinitely  better  than  a  man  of  bril- 
liancy. Ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred  he  will 
excel.  The  majority  of  brilliant  men  in  history 
remind  me  of  a  bolt  of  lightning.  A  bolt  of  light- 
ning is  a  mighty  power.  Hurled  out  of  the  cloud- 
covered  and  storm-shaken  dome,  it  sweeps  along 
its  course  in  dazzling  and  flashing  grandeur.  It 
is  a  magnificent  thing;  it  holds  us  enrapt  as  we 
watch  it,  but  at  the  same  time  it  fills  us  with 
fear.  We  tremble,  not  knowing  what  is  coming, 
nor  how  it  will  use  its  power,  nor  where  it  will 
strike.  Brilliant  human  lives  are  often  like  the 
thunderbolt ;  they  illumine,  they  dazzle,  they 
show  mighty  power,  but  they  keep  the  world  in 
perpetual  fear  and  anxiety  as  to  what  the  result  of 
their  living  may  be.  They  are  liable  to  be  erratic 
and  wickedly  ambitious ;  they  are  liable  to  throw 
themselves  against  the  right;  nine  times  out  of 
ten  we  find  them  to  be  Napoleonic  and  not  Wash- 
ingtonian.  The  difference  between  Napoleon  and 
Washington  is  the  difference  between  the  iron  heel 
and  the  helping  hand,  the  difference  between 
tyranny  and  freedom,  the  difference  between  a 
man  living  for  self  and  a  man  living  for  broad 
humanity.  Brilliant  men  are  usually  proud  men, 
selfish  men,  tyrannical  men. 

History  gives  us  a  full  record  of  Washington. 


288    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Its  eye  was  on  him  from  birth  to  burial.  He  came 
into  life  in  a  plain  fashion  and  lived  his  boyhood 
days  in  a  plain  fashion.  His  early  education  was 
something  like  the  education  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
the  only  other  American  who  is  able  to  stand  life- 
size  by  his  side  and  grandly  hold  his  own.  Neither 
of  these  men  saw  the  inside  of  a  university.  Wash- 
ington went  to  a  low  grade  of  private  school,  taught 
by  the  parish  sexton.  He  learned  the  three  R's, 
but  he  never  studied  grammar.  In  his  brother's 
house  he  studied  a  little  geometry.  This  sums  up 
all  that  the  schools  did  for  him. 

If  this  sums  up  all  that  the  schools  did  for  him, 
how  are  his  wonderful  state  papers  to  be  accounted 
for?  They  are  models.  His  farewell  address, 
like  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  address,  is  nothing  short 
of  a  national  classic.  I  account  for  the  form  and 
power  of  his  state  papers  just  as  I  account  for  his 
wonderful  career.  I  see  here  the  result  of  great 
goodness.  He  wrote  out  of  himself.  His  face  was 
everywhere  and  always  toward  the  light,  so  not  a 
vocable  rang  false  in  his  state  papers.  He  spoke 
and -wrote  electly  and  directly,  because  he  spoke 
and  wrote  from  a  pure  character.  He  felt  through 
and  through  his  entire  consciousness  the  beauty  of 
simplicity.  He  did  not  know  how  electly  he  did 
speak  and  write.  Such  is  always  the  case  with 
goodness.  He  had  something  true  and  important 
to  say,  and  this,  too,  was  a  reason  why  he  struck  a 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  289 

high  level  in  literature.  There  is  a  relation  be- 
tween ethics  and  esthetics.  Washington's  thoughts 
were  full  of  ethics,  hence  Washington's  words  were 
models  of  esthetics. 

Deprived  of  school  privileges,  he  trained  him- 
self out  of  school.  As  we  see  him  train  himself 
out  of  school,  we  see  the  man  in  the  boy.  As  a 
boy  he  drilled  himself  in  self-control,  and  in  regu- 
larity of  work,  and  in  the  art  of  politeness,  and  in 
respect  for  conscience,  and  in  the  fear  of  God.  As 
a  boy  he  was  soulful  and  thoughtful  and  devout ; 
he  was  of  a  meditative  spirit.  As  a  boy  he  studied 
the  art  of  courteous,  agreeable  intercourse  ;  he  laid 
down  rules  to  guide  him  in  the  avoidance  of  all 
that  would  offend  refined  taste,  and  in  the  culture 
of  that  which  was  pleasing  in  manner  and  in  habit. 
Manuscripts  found  in  his  own  handwriting  show 
this.  The  majority  of  boys  and  men  do  not  try 
to  please  or  be  pleasing,  and  they  succeed :  they 
are  not  pleasing.  By  ill  manners  they  throw  away 
half  the  power  of  their  life.  Decorum  and  polite- 
ness are  greater  forces  in  society  than  we  imagine. 
They  are  the  evidence  of  self-respect,  and  the  man 
only  who  respects  himself  is  respected  by  his 
fellows. 

Here  are  some  of  the  rules  which  he  wrote  out 
for  himself  at  the  age  of  thirteen : 

"  Never  violate  the  laws  of  good  society.  Avoid 
everything  that  offends  or  annoys. 


290     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

"  Endeavor  to  keep  alive  in  your  bosom  that 
little  divine  spark  called  conscience. 

"  When  you  speak  of  God  or  His  attributes, 
speak  seriously  and  in  reverence." 

These  rules  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  boy  Washington.  Living  under 
these  rules  I  call  putting  one's  self  underthe  highest 
type  of  religion. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  Washington  earned  his 
livelihood  as  a  surveyor  of  public  lands.  He  fol- 
lowed this  occupation  for  three  years.  This  was 
a  wholesome  discipline :  it  made  him  physically, 
and  when,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  he  stood  forth 
six  feet  two  inches,  he  was  broad-shouldered  and 
full-chested,  every  inch  of  him  a  man;  it  identi- 
fied him  with  the  least  artificial  of  human  pursuits  ; 
it  shielded  him  also  from  the  perversion  of  his 
moral  energies;  it  made  him  practical;  it  inured 
him  to  habits  of  keen  local  study ;  it  made  him 
familiar  with  fatigue  and  exposure ;  it  taught  him 
to  accommodate  himself  to  limited  fare  and  to 
camp  life ;  it  made  a  soldier  out  of  him. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  took  a  commission 
from  the  colony  of  Virginia  and  entered  into  the 
French  and  Indian  wars.  After  this  he  went  with 
his  brother  to  the  West  Indies ;  while  there  his 
brother  died,  leaving  him  his  estate.  It  was  in 
this  way  that  he  came  into  the  possession  of  Mount 
Vernon. 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  291 

At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  Washington  married 
Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  a  widow  with  two  children ; 
she  was  noted  for  two  things,  wealth  and  beauty. 
No  one  could  ever  say  that  he  married  her  for 
money,  but  her  money  came  in  good  place  during 
the  Revolutionary  times  and  enabled  him  the  bet- 
ter to  serve  his  country. 

At  the  age  of  forty-two  he  became  a  member 
of  the  first  general  Congress  of  the  colonies,  and 
at  the  age  of  forty-four  he  was,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  John  Adams,  selected  as  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  American  forces.  He  took  com- 
mand of  the  army  under  the  old  elm-tree  which 
still  grows  on  the  common  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 
America  required  as  a  leader  a  man  reared  under 
her  own  eye,  who  combined  with  distinguished 
talents  a  character  above  suspicion,  and  George 
Washington  was  that  man. 

He  remained  at  the  head  of  the  army  for  seven 
long  years,  during  which  time  his  foot  never  stepped 
across  the  threshold  of  his  home.  The  history  of 
these  seven  years  is  familiar  to  you  all ;  they  were 
full  of  intense  interest,  from  the  raising  of  the  siege 
of  Boston  by  building  batteries  on  Dorchester 
Heights,  to  the  surrender  of  the  British  army  at 
Yorktown. 

Two  battles  at  least  during  this  period  showed 
great  military  genius  and  would  have  been  worthy 
of  Napoleon — the  battles  of  Trenton  and  German- 


292     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

town.  Washington  showed  a  military  genius  in 
these,  just  as  afterward,  in  reading  the  future  of 
America  and  in  creating  our  foreign  policy,  he 
showed  a  genius  of  statesmanship.  Washington 
crossing  the  Delaware  on  a  stormy  night  in  mid- 
winter, when  the  river  was  running  high  and  full 
of  ice,  was  like  Napoleon  crossing  the  Alps.  For 
his  services  during  the  Revolutionary  War  he  took 
no  remuneration  whatever;  that  showed  where  his 
heart  was  and  for  what  he  was  fighting.  He  was 
ambitious  not  for  self,  but  for  country.  He  fought 
not  for  glory,  but  for  a  cause. 

His  services  in  this  war  illustrate  his  character 
and  set  forth  his  endowments.  While  he  was 
constantly  active  and  was  full  of  untiring  persever- 
ance, he  was  also  noted  for  his  large  passive  virtues. 
These  were  the  virtues  which  won  the  day.  He 
wras  not  able  to  meet  the  foe  on  an  open  field ;  he 
had  not  the  army  with  which  to  do  that ;  his  only 
hope  was  to  weary  the  British  by  long  retreats, 
making  now  and  then  a  daring  attack  and  winning 
a  brilliant  victory,  to  revive  his  troops  and  his 
country  and  to  keep  the  love  of  the  cause  of  liberty 
alive.  Only  a  man  largely  endowed  with  the  pas- 
sive virtues  could  have  endured  the  gibes  of  foes 
and  the  suspicions  of  allies  and  the  charge  of  in- 
competency by  friends.  We  want  to  make  more 
of  the  passive  virtues  than  we  do. 

The  war  over,  was  Washington's  work  through  ? 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  293 

No ;  it  was  only  half  through.  Many  more  years 
of  service  were  required  from  him  upon  the  part 
of  his  country.  The  war  over,  the  States  free,  a 
new  era  opened  before  America.  God  had  brought 
the  States  through  the  great  struggle,  but  danger 
was  not  over  for  them.  War  had  united  them, 
but,  now  that  the  war  was  over,  they  were  in 
danger  of  falling  apart  and  of  entering  into  battle 
with  one  another. 

The  most  perilous  years  in  the  history  of  our 
nation  were  the  four  years  after  the  Revolution. 
This  period  was  what  John  Fiske  has  called  the 
"critical  era."  Each  State  began  to  look  out  for 
itself  and  to  become  jealous  of  every  other  State. 
The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  too  indefinite 
and  too  feeble.  The  Continental  Congress,  ruling 
under  these,  had  but  limited  authority.  A  heavy 
debt  rested  upon  the  nation,  and  the  soldiers  who 
had  won  the  freedom  of  the  nation  were  compelled 
to  go  unpaid.  It  is  impossible  to  magnify  the  ills 
of  this  period ;  yet  the  average  American  rests 
under  the  delusion  that  when  the  Revolutionary 
War  was  over  our  fathers  had  a  political  millen- 
nium. There  was  great  financial  distress.  There 
was  civil  war  in  North  Carolina  and  there  was  re- 
volt in  Pennsylvania.  The  times  demanded  efforts 
for  a  more  perfect  and  permanent  union,  and  for 
better  articles  of  confederation,  and  for  a  wider 
central  government.     This  demand  originated  the 


294     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

convention  which  framed  the  Constitution.  Of 
this  convention  George  Washington  was  the  chair- 
man and  head.  The  Constitution  framed  and 
adopted,  he  was  elected  the  first  President,  with 
John  Adams  Vice-President.  It  was  not  his  wish 
to  be  President;  the  office  sought  him,  he  did  not 
seek  the  office.  Every  office  which  he  held  dur- 
ing his  long  public  service  was  forced  upon  him ; 
he  took  and  filled  public  positions  only  from  a 
sense  of  duty  and  only  to  serve  a  cause.  Let  our 
politicians  and  statesmen  take  note  of  this  fact.  It 
is  delightful  to  see  how  Washingtonian  the  men  of 
our  day  are,  especially  the  men  in  whose  bonnets 
the  presidential  bee  is  buzzing.  How  much  coax- 
ing they  require!  How  extremely  modest  they 
are !  Not  a  single  man  is  doing  a  single  thing  to 
get  the  nomination.  They  are  so  completely  hidden 
behind  their  modest  blushes  that  they  can  be  dis- 
covered only  by  that  new-found  element  of  light, 
the  X  ray,  which  has  such  a  penetrating  power 
that  it  can  photograph  even  our  bones. 

By  the  way,  if  you  are  searching  for  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  what  is  the  matter  with  Gover- 
nor Morton?  or  what  is  the  matter  with  Speaker 
Reed?  or  what  is  the  matter  with  the  major? 
Major  who?     Why,  Major  McKinley. 

Gentlemen,  the  most  effective  way  to  kill  your 
candidate  is  to  hurrah  for  him  ahead  of  time.  We 
are  six  months  away  from  nomination  day,  so  now 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  295 

is  the  time  to  hurrah  for  the  men  you  don't  want. 
If  there  is  a  candidate  you  are  afraid  of  and  would 
like  to  kill,  present  his  name  to  the  public  at  once 
and  at  once  begin  to  hurrah  for  him.  This  is  what 
some  men  in  our  State  are  charged  with  doing  to- 
day. If  that  charge  be  true,  if  any  man  or  any 
set  of  men  are  trifling  with  our  venerable  governor, 
or  are  making  game  of  him,  or  are  insincere  in 
asking  him  for  his  name,  or  are  using  him  for  the 
purpose  of  ignobly  trading  him  by  and  by,  they 
ought,  to  use  a  military  figure,  to  be  immediately 
court-martialed  and  in  disgrace  be  drummed  out 
of  the  political  camp. 

But  I  must  return  from  these  pleasantries  to  our 
subject.  The  day  of  Washington's  inauguration 
was  a  great  day ;  he  himself  felt  it  to  be  such ;  for 
if  the  gigantic  enterprise  upon  which  the  Republic 
enters  prove  a  failure,  "  government  of  the  people, 
and  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  "  will  be  set 
back  centuries,  and  the  tyrannies  of  the  Old  World, 
with  their  monarchical  ideas,  will  receive  a  new 
lease  of  life.  But  if  the  enterprise  prove  successful, 
the  cause  of  civil  freedom  will  bound  up  in  every 
land,  and  the  whole  world  will  begin  its  march 
toward  constitutional  liberty. 

The  day  when  it  dawned  found  the  whole  nation, 
so  far  as  possible,  assembled  at  New  York.  Mul- 
titudes with  thrilling  hearts  witnessed  the  admin- 
istration of  the  oath  of  office;  and  when  George 


290    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Washington,  with  great  fervor,  said,  "  I  swear,  so 
help  me  God,"  the  chancellor  who  administered 
the  oath  turned  round  to  the  living  throngs  and 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Long  live  George  Wash- 
ington, the  President  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica! "  That  shout  the  people  echoed  all  through 
the  city  and  all  through  the  Republic,  and  then  a 
thousand  chimes  pealed  forth  in  musical  notes  of 
joy,  and  a  thousand  guns  answered  with  their  voice 
of  hearty  salute. 

Having  served  his  country  for  eight  years,  the 
limit  of  presidential  rule  for  any  man,  Washington 
retired  to  the  privacy  of  his  home  at  Mount  Ver- 
non and  lived  in  quietness  until  death  called  him 
to  take  up  his  march  to  the  throne  of  God.  When 
he  died  all  America  mourned  him,  and  the  nations 
abroad  joined  America  in  the  mourning.  The  flags 
of  France  were  craped,  and  even  the  flags  of  Great 
Britain  floated  at  half-mast;  for,  as  Goldwin  Smith 
says,  "  England  felt  that  he  had  only  fought  against 
the  government  of  George  III.,  and  not  against 
England." 

Washington  is  now  before  us,  and  we  see  him 
as  he  is  and  as  he  reveals  himself  in  his  life-work. 
He  impresses  us  as  a  man  whose  manhood  is  pure 
and  simple  ;  he  is  self-possessed  ;  he  is  temperate  ; 
he  is  methodical ;  he  has  the  power  of  carrying 
wTith  him  all  details  ;  he  is  prompt,  filling  each  day 
with  the  duties  of  the  day ;  he  is  a  man  of  deeds 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  297 

more  than  of  words ;  he  gives  us  a  life  by  which 
to  know  him — a  life  full  to  overflowing  with  works, 
a  life  full  of  pathetic  gravity  and  seriousness,  which 
comes  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  from  seeing  and 
dealing  with  eternal  realities,  and  from  carrying 
the  burdens  of  the  human  race.  His  life  is  a  con- 
tinued exhibit  of  unselfishness ;  it  is  an  eloquent 
and  an  immortal  oration  on  liberty.  To  repeat  a 
phrase  I  have  already  used,  his  was  preeminently 
the  genius  of  character.  It  is  his  character  that  sets 
up  his  statue  in  our  public  parks  and  that  hangs 
his  picture  i.n  our  legislative  halls.  It  is  his  char- 
acter that  holds  for  him  the  attachment  of  a  con- 
tinent and  the  personal  loyalty  of  the  whole  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  It  is  his  character  that  fires  the  guns 
and  pulls  the  bell-ropes  and  inspires  the  orations. 
It  is  his  character  that  makes  his  grave  at  Mount 
Vernon  a  mightier  power  than  the  presence  of  any 
living  statesman.  TJie  genius  of  cliaracter!  That 
is  the  greatest  known  power  in  the  universe. 

The  man  who  admires  the  genius  of  intellect 
stands  by  me  and  asks,  Do  you  make  genius  of 
character  outrank  genius  of  intellect?  I  reply,  I 
do.  Unless  a  man  have  love  and  devotion  and 
self-sacrifice  and  self-control  and  honesty  and 
truthfulness  and  manliness,  he  is  lacking  in  the 
very  pith  and  beauty  of  manhood  ;  he  is  not  a  great 
man,  no  matter  what  else  he  may  have.  He  is 
not  a  great  being.     He  may  have  written  a  match- 


298     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

less  poem,  he  may  have  arranged  the  marvelous 
plots  of  a  striking  play ;  his  meters  may  run  like 
the  music  of  the  flowing  brooks,  and  his  metaphors 
may  shine  like  the  green  fields  and  the  blue  seas 
and  the  golden  clouds  from  which  they  are  drawn  ; 
the  personages  in  his  dramas  may  be  grand  men 
doing  grand  things.  Pointing  to  these,  the  admirer 
of  the  genius  of  intellect  asks  me  with  confidence, 
And  is  not  this  glory  enough  for  the  man?  Has 
he  not  reached  the  acme  of  greatness  ?  I  answer, 
No ;  this  is  not  glory  enough  for  the  man ;  he  has 
not  reached  the  acme  of  greatness.  There  are 
great  heights  beyond  him  still.  He  must  himself 
be  the  best  character  he  can  represent;  he  must 
himself  enact  in  real  life  the  highest  qualities  he 
can  paint;  he  must  do,  and  love  to  do,  the  noblest 
deeds  he  can  abstractly  conceive  and  beautifully 
describe.  His  intellect  must  not  overtop  his  char- 
acter nor  his  lips  outboast  the  achievements  of  his 
hands.  The  genius  of  cJiaracter !  There  is  no 
power  like  that.  That  was  the  power  possessed 
by  George  Washington.  It  was  that  which  gave 
him  his  clear  and  unerring  insight  into  things;  it 
was  that  which  crowned  him  and  the  cause  which 
he  espoused  with  success  ;  it  was  that  which  carried 
the  blessing  of  almighty  God  with  it.  We  might 
truthfully  describe  this  man,  whose  power  was  the 
genius  of  character,  as  Tennyson  describes  one  of 
his  heroes ;  he  was 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  200 

"  Rich  in  saving  common  sense, 
And  as  the  greatest  only  are — 
In  his  simplicity  sublime ; 
Who  never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour, 
Nor  paltered  with  eternal  God  for  power ; 
Whose  life  was  work,  whose  language  rife 
With  rugged  maxims  hewn  from  life ; 
Who  never  spake  against  a  foe. 
Let  his  great  example  stand 
Colossal,  seen  in  every  land, 
Till  in  all  lands,  and  through  all  human  story, 
The  path  of  duty  be  the  way  to  glory." 

Such  is  our  Washington.  To-day  we  stand  in 
his  presence  and  feel  his  power.  We  do  this  as 
part  of  our  education.  It  is  one  of  the  most  hope- 
ful of  our  human  attributes  that  we  have  the  ca- 
pacity to  be  touched  and  thrilled  and  inspired  by 
those  who  are  above  us.  It  is  the  germ  and 
promise  of  progress.  We  are  educated  by  our 
admirations ;  nothing,  perhaps,  educates  us  more. 
I  rejoice  that  this  is  so,  because  I  remember  that 
Washington  calls  out  the  admiration  of  all  America. 
He  educates  the  American  citizen  ;  he  refines  him  ; 
he  elevates  him.  Do  you  not  hear  his  voice  ?  Do 
you  not  see  the  civic  precepts  shining  out  of  his 
life  in  letters  of  gold  ?  Let  me  read  you  some  of 
these  and  in  this  way  give  you  the  lessons  which, 
at  the  beginning  of  my  address,  I  promised  to 
evolve  from  his  life. 

I  hear  the  father  of  his  country  uttering  three 
precepts  to-night,  all  of  which  are  practical  and  are 


300     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

necessary  for  the  making  of  ultimate  America. 
The  first  of  these  is  this : 

i .   Americans ■,  give  your  country  a  true  manhood. 

This,  and  this  alone,  is  true  patriotism.  This 
alone  will  make  our  country  strong.  As  a  chain 
is  no  stronger  than  its  individual  links,  so  the 
character  of  the  nation  is  no  higher  than  the  char- 
acter of  its  separate  citizens.  There  is  no  getting 
away  from  the  individual  man ;  he  must  be  made 
right  if  the  world  is  to  be  made  right.  There  is 
only  one  effective  process  of  regenerating  society, 
and  that  is  to  regenerate  the  atoms  of  society.  It 
is  only  the  citizen  who  has  a  true  manhood  who 
can  do  manly  things  and  build  into  our  civil  insti- 
tutions manly  virtues.  The  night  cannot  emit  the 
light;  it  takes  the  day  to  do  that.  The  citizen  is 
never  better  than  the  man  ;  your  patriotism  cannot 
rise  higher  than  your  morals.  Hence  the  -vital 
question  is,  What  are  you  ?  Are  you  a  man  of 
truth,  a  sober  man,  an  honest  man,  a  generous 
man,  a  loyal  man,  a  man  of  God?  Show  me  a 
nation  of  such  men,  and  I  will  show  you  a  mag- 
nificent nation,  a  nation  that  is  a  model  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  a  nation  with  grand  popular  in- 
stitutions, a  nation  full  of  commercial  prosperity, 
a  progressive  nation,  a  nation  whose  laws  are 
righteous  and  whose  career  is  one  of  exaltation. 

I  am  in  search  of  good  men  for  our  nation,  be- 
cause, in  this  latter  and  better  age,  which  Wash- 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  301 

ington  has  inaugurated,  goodness  is  greatness. 
The  great  man  of  the  future  will  be  the  good  man 
of  the  future.  I  know  that  goodness  has  not  always 
been  considered  the  equivalent  of  greatness,  but 
Washington  by  his  great  American  life  has  changed 
our  estimate.  It  was  not  so  considered  when  the 
race  was  young,  but  it  is  so  considered  now ;  for 
the  human  race  has  reached  its  maturity. 

As  we  review  the  history  of  the  world,  we  see 
it  dividing  itself  into  three  stages  :  in  the  first  stage 
power  is  magnified  ;  force  is  deified  ;  the  great  man 
is  the  strong  man.  In  this  era  Nimrod  is  the  hero 
after  the  world's  heart.  Strength  receives  the 
homage  of  the  many.  In  the  second  stage  power 
is  pushed  a  step  or  two  back,  and  intellect  comes 
to  the  front ;  the  great  man  is  the  intellectual  man. 
In  this  era  Homer  is  the  favorite  idol  before  whom 
the  populace  delight  to  bow.  Genius  receives  the 
homage  of  men.  Christianity  has  inaugurated  the 
third  stage.  In  this  era  the  world  is  pointed  not 
to  Nimrod,  not  to  Homer,  but  to  Christ,  who  goes 
about  doing  good.  Ever  after  this  it  is  not  power, 
it  is  not  genius,  but  it  is  goodness.  The  great  man 
of  the  future  will  be  the  good  man  of  the  future. 

What  seems  strange,  these  three  stages  of  the 
world's  history  which  I  have  just  mentioned  are 
paralleled  in  the  individual  experience  of  man  as 
he  admires  the  forces  operating  in  the  world. 
What  causes  the  heart  of  the  boy  to  respond  in 


302     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

admiration  ?  David  slaying  Goliath — power.  Caesar 
leading  the  Tenth  Legion — power.  Napoleon  at 
the  head  of  the  Old  Guard — power.  Let  the  boy- 
pass  into  young  manhood ;  what  causes  his  heart 
to  respond  in  admiration  as  a  young  man  ?  Shake- 
speare creating  his  wonderful  characters — genius. 
Macaulay  writing  his  history — genius.  Goethe 
throwing  off  the  marvelous  products  of  his  pen — 
genius.  Let  the  young  man  reach  his  full  maturity 
and  become  able  to  sift  and  analyze  and  judge 
things  by  the  most  approved  standards  ;  what  calls 
out  admiration  from  the  heart  of  the  mature  man? 
John  Howard  at  work  among  the  reeking  prisons 
— goodness.  Livingstone  in  the  heart  of  the  Dark 
Continent,  struggling  for  the  elevation  of  Africa — 
goodness.  Abraham  Lincoln  calling  into  existence 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  writing  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation — goodness.  Goodness 
is  greatness.  The  great  man  of  the  future  will  be 
the  good  man  of  the  future.  Above  all  things, 
then,  let  the  coming  patriot  give  his  country  a  man- 
hood which  shall  be  the  incarnation  of  goodness. 

'  My  fellow-citizens,  our  country  first  of  all  wants 
men — good  men  ;  national  men  versus  local  men ; 
apocalyptic  men,  men  of  prevision,  seeing  a  sub- 
lime future  for  the  Republic  ;  men  of  progress,  men 
who  are  not  afraid  to  improve  upon  their  ancestors ; 
men  of  powerful  pens;  men  of  executive  ability; 
men  who  are  genuine  through  and  through ;  men 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  303 

like  Washington,  who  not  only  had  the  genius  of 
intellect  and  the  genius  of  war  and  the  genius  of 
statesmanship,  but  who  had  preeminently,  above 
all  these,  the  genius  of  character. 

"  God  give  us  men!    A  time  like  this  demands 

Clean  minds,  pure  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands. 

Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will ; 

Men  whom  desire  for  office  does  not  kill  ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 

Men  who  have  honor ;  men  who  will  not  lie ; 

Tall  men;  sun-crowned  men  ;  men  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking ; 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  denounce  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking. 

For  while  base  tricksters,  with  their  worn-out  creeds, 

Their  large  professions,  and  their  little  deeds, 

Wrangle  in  selfish  strife,  lo!  Freedom  weeps, 

Wrong  rules  the  land,  and  waiting  Justice  sleeps." 

The  second  Washingtonian  precept  which  I  wish 
to  present  is  this : 

2.    Be  intense  Americans. 

It  was  to  found  an  American  commomvealtJi  that 
Washington  gave  his  life  It  was  for  American 
ideas  that  he  fought.  When  his  soldiers  wanted 
to  crown  him  as  a  king,  he  refused,  because  he 
believed  that  every  man  in  the  Republic  was  a 
king.  A  free  manhood,  carrying  in  it  the  necessity 
of  the  consent  of  the  governed,  free  thought,  free 
speech,  free  schools,  with  the  American  flag  in  them 
for  our  boys  and  girls  to  salute,  a  free  ballot,  a  free 


304    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

press — all  these  are  American  ideas ;  and  Washing- 
tonism,  which  is  the  highest  type  of  Americanism, 
consists  in  standing  for  the  defense  of  these. 

I  am  not  ashamed  to  stand  here  and  advocate 
intense  Americanism,  for  there  is  nothing  grander 
under  the  sky.  A  fine  Americanism  is  the  equa- 
tion of  the  highest  civilization,  of  the  broadest 
humanity,  of  the  purest  and  simplest  religion,  of 
the  largest  liberty,  of  the  grandest  personal  and 
political  principles,  and  of  magnificent  manhood  and 
a  holy  womanhood. 

Intense  Americanism  requires  us,  above  all  things, 
to  look  after  the  integrity  and  the  wholeness  of  our 
nation.  We  must  see  to  it  that  there  is  no  division 
of  loyalty  upon  the  part  of  its  citizens.  We  have 
opened  the  gates  of  our  nation  to  all  the  world  and 
have  dispensed  the  right  of  franchise  freely;  we 
must  see  to  it  that  all  who  accept  our  gift  under- 
stand what  they  are  doing  and  give  to  us  in  return 
what  we  require  by  the  oath  of  naturalization. 
Guarding  the  oath  of  naturalization  is 
FUNDAMENTAL.  Guarding  it  means  guarding  our 
American  principles  and  our  American  institutions  ; 
for  if  we  keep  out  of  citizenship  the  unworthy,  and 
let  into  citizenship  only  those  who  positively  love 
our  principles  and  institutions,  we  conserve  these. 
Let  us  tell  all  foreigners  the  moment  they  step 
upon  our  shores  that  we  mean  that  this  Republic 
shall  be  practically  and  ultimately  American.    The 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  305 

American  Republic  exists  for  the  purpose  of  be- 
coming supreme.  In  Europe  there  is  Ireland  for 
the  Irish  who  will  not  consent  to  become  recon- 
structed, and  Italy  for  the  Italians  of  the  same  type, 
and  Rome  for  Romans,  and  Germany  for  unwork- 
able Germans,  and  France  for  fussy  Frenchmen ; 
but  on  this  continent,  from  Plymouth  Rock  in  the 
East  to  the  Golden  Gate  in  the  West,  from  the 
Alaskan  snows  in  the  North  to  the  tropical  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  South,  there  is  room 
only  for  Americans.  Now  it  is  not  illiberal  in  us 
to  push  Americanism  to  the  front.  No;  for  in 
Americanism  there  is  room  enough  and  breadth 
enough  for  all  the  races  which  are  willing  to  unify 
with  us.  America  exists  for  the  world,  and  it  is 
axiomatic  that  America  can  serve  the  world  only 
as  it  is  American.  Americanism  is  the  broadest 
kind  of  humanitarianism  and  the  widest  type  of 
cosmopolitanism. 

When  our  Republic  was  organized  and  our  in- 
stitutions were  introduced  and  our  future  was  out- 
lined, it  occurred  to  American  patriots  that  it  would 
be  a  generous  thing  to  invite  others  to  the  enjoy- 
ments of  civil  wealth.  So  our  Republic  unfurled  its 
flag  of  welcome  and  waved  an  invitation  to  the  na- 
tions far  and  near;  it  opened  its  door  of  citizenship 
to  the  wide  world.  But  were  there  no  conditions 
of  citizenship?  Were  not  people  of  all  nations 
invited  for  a  special  object?     Oh  yes;  they  were 


306     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

invited  for  this  object,  viz.,  to  build  up  the  institu- 
tions which  our  fathers  had  founded  and  for  which 
they  had  shed  their  blood.  They  were  invited  to 
work  out  Americanism.  It  was  the  distinct  under- 
standing that  each  one  who  accepted  the  invitation 
accepted  also  the  object  of  the  invitation.  Any- 
thing else  would  have  been  suicide  upon  the  part 
of  our  Republic.  A  strict  oath  of  naturalization 
was  built  up  at  the  door  of  entrance ;  by  that  oath 
every  man  who  became  an  American  citizen  was 
required  to  renounce  forever  and  entirely  all  alle- 
giance to  every  other  civil  power. 

Now  all  this  is  easily  understood.  No  honest 
man  dare  take  that  oath  with  a  mental  reservation ; 
if  any  man  dare,  he  steals  his  citizenship  and  no 
more  owns  it  than  the  thief  who  plucks  your  watch 
from  your  pocket  owns  your  watch.  How  do  you 
treat  such  a  thief  ?  You  take  the  watch  from  him 
and  you  legally  and  lawfully  do  something  more. 

When  a  man  is  born  into  our  Republic  by 
naturalization,  our  institutions  receive  a  new  de- 
fender and  the  nation  an  additional  element  of 
strength.  The  oath  of  naturalization  says  to  every 
man  seeking  citizenship,  You  must  subordinate 
everything  to  America.  There  is  no  class  here ; 
there  is  no  union  of  church  and  state  here.  If  your 
creed  specify  that  such  a  union  should  exist,  you 
must  give  up  that  creed.  There  is  nothing  here 
but  Americanism.     And  yon  swear  that  there  shall 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  307 

be  nothing  here  bat  Americanism.  The  oath  of 
naturalization  is  an  oath  of  purgation  whereby  all 
foreign  allegiance  is  renounced."  The  man  who 
takes  it  in  its  spirit  is  born  into  a  new  civil  life. 
Acting  in  loyalty  to  that  oath,  let  us  see  to  it  that 
we  make  public  sentiment  so  true  and  so  American 
that  every  foreign  thing,  man,  school,  church,  shall 
be  completely  absorbed  and  assimilated  by  republi- 
can principles  and  purposes,  or  else  shall  be  openly 
and  unequivocally  rejected  as  un-American,  and 
treated  as  akin  to  treason. 

There  is  only  one  legal  way  of  transporting  the 
waters  of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine  and  the  Seine 
and  the  Thames  and  the  Tiber,  that  they  may  flow 
by  right  and  peaceably  in  the  channels  of  the  Hud- 
son and  the  Charles  and  the  Connecticut  and  the 
Merrimac  and  the  Columbia  and  the  Mississippi. 
That  way  is  by  evaporation  and  condensation.  The 
evaporation  takes  place  in  Europe ;  the  condensa- 
tion takes  place  here  in  the  American  atmosphere. 
Let  us  see  to  it  that  the  process  which  takes  place 
in  our  American  sky-dome  is  so  complete  that  each 
drop  of  water  distilled  shall  be  so  American  that 
there  shall  not  be  in  it  the  least  taint  or  tinge 
of  Danube,  Rhine,  Seine,  Thames,  or  Tiber.  On 
American  soil  race  should  merge  into  race,  as  crys- 
tal water  merges  into  crystal  water,  to  flow  on  as 
a  sparkling  river  of  life.  Let  there  be  one  country 
for  all,  one  standard  of  loyalty  for  all,  one  system 


308     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

of  free  State  non-sectarian  public  schools  for  all, 
one  sacred  ballot-box  for  all,  one  type  of  citizen- 
ship for  all,  one  Declaration  of  Independence  for 
all,  one  national  language  for  all,  one  flag,  Old 
Glory,  the  stars  and  stripes,  for  all,  and  one  sover- 
eign for  all,  and  that  the  sovereign  will  of  the 
people,  exercised  according  to  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  the  national  Constitution. 

The  last  Washingtonian  precept  which  I  stop  to 
present  is  this : 

3.  Patriots,  see  that  America  holds  Jier  leadership 
among  the  peoples  and  nations  of  the  earth. 

This  is  a  precept  which  I  feel  I  can  confidently 
urge  upon  the  men  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  the  successors  of  George  Washington  in 
the  military  life  of  the  nation.  No  class  of  men 
are  more  willing  to  see  that  America  leads  than 
you  are.  There  are  no  men  who  have  done  more 
for  their  country  than  you  have.  You  purchased 
the  country  with  a  second  and  a  great  price,  and 
you  own  it  as  no  other  class  of  American  citizens 
own  it.  Your  voice  on  behalf  of  the  right  will  be 
heard  when  no  other  voice  can  prevail.  There  is 
no  plea  like  the  plea  of  the  empty  sleeve  and  the 
bullet-scarred  body  of  the  veteran  soldier. 

My  fellow-citizens,  you  won  the  victories  of  war ; 
your  country  now  calls  upon  you  to  win  the  greater 
victories  of  peace.  There  remaineth  yet  much  to 
be  done ;  we  are  still  in  our  formative  period,     The 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  309 

clothes  of  the  boy  will  not  answer  for  the  clothes 
of  the  man.  Growth  brings  new  problems  and 
new  battles  for  ideas  and  principles.  We  need  men 
who  will  fight  for  honest  money,  and  who  will  fight 
for  a  common-sense  measure  of  raising  a  sufficient 
revenue  wherewith  to  run  the  government.  We 
talk  of  the  old  colonial  and  Revolutionary  times  as 
times  that  were  big.  Times  are  always  big  to 
earnest  men.  Our  times  are  big  to  us  if  we  are 
earnest ;  they  are  crowded  with  problems  which 
can  be  solved  only  by  men  like  Washington  and 
his  compeers.  There  is  the  money  problem  and 
the  labor  problem  and  the  emigration  problem 
and  the  race  problem  and  the  educational  prob- 
lem and  the  problem  of  our  foreign  policy ;  and 
these  must  all  be  met  and  solved,  because  our 
solution  of  these  will  touch  and  influence  for  good 
or  for  evil  every  nation  on  the  earth. 

Then  there  is  the  great  problem  of  our  relations 
to  broad  humanity.  The  oppressed  in  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  globe  are  looking  toward  America  for 
light  and  for  ruling  principles  and  for  certain  gui- 
dance and  for  an  uplifting  hand.  We  have  a  mission 
to  all  the  nations  of  the  world  as  well  as  a  mission 
to  our  citizens  at  home.  Our  national  experience 
gives  us  that  mission,  our  progress  gives  us  that 
mission,  and  our  holy  ambition  to  reach  the  highest 
civilization  gives  us  that  mission.  It  is  our  mission 
\o  lead  humanity  on  all  continents,  and  it  is  pur 


310     MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

mission  to  lead  just  because  civilly  we  are  ahead 
of  humanity. 

My  task  is  finished.  This  is  our  ideal.  When 
our  patriotism  matches  our  ideal,  then,  with  radiant 
faces,  we  can  turn  to  our  beloved  native  land  and 
address  it  in  the  well-known  words  of  our  honored 
poet: 

"  Sail  on,  O  ship  of  state! 

Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great! 
Humanity,  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  its  hopes  of  future  years, 

Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 

"  We  know  what  masters  laid  thy  keel, 
What  workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 

Who  made  each  mast  and  sail  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge  and  what  a  heat 

Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 

"  Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock: 
'Tjs  but  the  wave,  and  not  the  rock ; 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale! 

"  In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest  roar, 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  over  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee — are  all  with  thee!  " 


X. 

THE   CHURCH  AND  THE   REPUBLIC. 


311 


X. 

THE    CHURCH   AND   THE    REPUBLIC* 

I  HAVE  in  my  library  a  volume  bearing  this 
title :  "  Historical  and  Patriotic  Addresses,  Cen- 
tennial and  Quadrennial."  The  American  flag 
forms  its  frontispiece  and  American  history  con- 
stitutes the  contents  of  its  pages.  The  book  has 
over  one  thousand  pages.  It  was  issued  last  year 
under  the  editorship  of  Frederick  Saunders,  libra- 
rian of  the  Astor  Library.  It  is  the  intention  of 
the  book  to  give  the  steps  of  American  progress 
and  set  forth  the  elements  of  our  Republic's 
strength.  In  the  book  are  national  odes  by 
Whittier  and  Holmes,  and  orations  by  Webster 
and  Adams  and  Evarts  and  Curtis  and  Depew  and 
Winthrop  and  kindred  spirits,  and  patriotic  sermons 
by  loyal  divines,  closing  with  a  sermon  delivered 
in  this  pulpit.  When  I  took  up  this  book  and  turned 
its  pages,  this  was  the  one  thing  which  I  noticed : 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, on  Home  Mission  Sabbath. 

315 


316    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

looking  through  the  book  was  like  looking  over  an 
American  landscape  or  over  an  American  city ;  the 
chief  thing  which  caught  the  eye  was  the  Christian 
church.  In  every  ode  and  oration  and  sermon  of 
the  book  rises  the  tapering  church  spire,  tipped  with 
a  glittering  cross  or  with  a  blazing  star.  Here  is  a 
book  composed  of  the  deepest  thoughts  and  obser- 
vations of  America's  foremost  thinkers, — poets,  jur- 
ists, statesmen,  merchants,  ministers, — and  it  rep- 
resents all  classes  of  Americans  as  saying,  The 
Christian  church  has  been  one  of  the  most  potent 
factors  in  the  construction  of  the  American  Repub- 
lic and  one  of  the  greatest  bulwarks  of  its  magnifi- 
cent principles  and  institutions. 

That  book  set  me  thinking.  It  gave  me  also  my 
topic  for  this  morning.  It  started  such  questions 
with  me  as  these  :  Is  its  teaching  true  ?  Ought  the 
church  spire  to  shoot  up  in  every  patriotic  ode  and 
oration  and  sermon?  If  the  Christian  church  be 
the  national  power  which  these  patriotic  men  rep- 
resent it  to  be,  what  constitutes  its  power?  How 
does  the  church  serve  the  Republic  ?  If  the  teach- 
ing of  this  book  be  true,  then  is  it  not  also  true 
that  in  the  power  of  the  church  we  have  one  of  the 
grandest  arguments  in  favor  of  pushing  the  great 
work  of  home  missions  in  our  land  ?  The  ultima- 
tum, the  objective  point,  of  every  American  home 
missionary  is  to  plant  a  Christian  church  on  the 
frontier  of  the  Republic,  and  to  make  it  an  elevat- 


THE   CHURCH  AND   THE  REPUBLIC.        317 

ing,  saving,  spiritualizing,  patriotic  power  in  the 
wild  life  which  men  live  on  the  outposts  of  our 
civilization. 

I  affirm  that  the  teaching  of  this  book  concern- 
ing the  Christian  church  is  true.  The  church  spire 
is  in  every  American  landscape  and  in  every 
American  city,  just  as  it  is  in  every  ode  and  ora- 
tion and  sermon  of  this  historic  volume.  Without 
the  large  prevalence  of  the  church  spire  jutting 
from  its  pages  the  book  would  be  untrue  to  Amer- 
ican history. 

The  very  first  house  of  any  importance  which 
our  Pilgrim  fathers  built  on  this  continent  was  the 
house  of  God.  To  use  the  poet's  phrase,  they 
made  New  England  the  land  of  "  templed  hills." 

"  I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills." 

Like  the  Jews  of  old,  they  looked  upon  church- 
building  as  an  unmistakable  proof  of  a  love  of 
country.  "  He  loveth  our  nation,  and  he  hath  built 
us  a  synagogue"  (Luke  vii.  5).  The  synagogue 
was  the  one  democratic  institution  of  Judea,  the 
one  institution  in  the  land  wholly  free  from  any 
touch  of  priest,  an  institution  "  of  the  people  and 
for  the  people  and  by  the  people." 

The  Mayflower,  which  brought  our  Pilgrim 
fathers  to  Plymouth  Rock,  was  simply  the  old 
church  of  Scrooby  Manor  afloat  and  heading  its 


318    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

way  to  a  great  future.  And  Plymouth  Rock, 
where  the  prow  of  the  Mayflozver  touched  and 
where  the  Scrooby  church  landed,  was  simply  a 
fragment  of  the  Alps,  broken  off  at  Geneva,  the 
home  of  John  Calvin.  Plymouth  Rock  stands  in 
history  as  the  symbol  of  Calvinism.  The  covenant 
of  the  Mayflower,  which  every  American  should 
write  in  his  memory,  shows  all  this.  It  shows  the 
play  of  religion  in  the  origin  of  American  national 
life.  Before  the  Pilgrim  fathers  set  foot  on  Amer- 
ican soil  they  took  America  for  God  and  the 
Christian  religion,  and  entered  into  a  religious 
compact  with  one  another.  This  is  the  way  that 
covenant  opens : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  amen.  We  whose 
names  are  underwritten,  having  undertaken  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  the 
Christian  faith,  do  solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  of  one  another,  covenant  and 
combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civic  body 
politic." 

Do  we  wonder  that,  in  beginning  to  construct 
our  nation  in  accordance  with  this  Mayflower 
compact,  the  first  building  of  note  which  the  Pil- 
grim fathers  constructed  was  a  Christian  church? 
There  was  no  other  way  of  beginning  for  them, 
and  as  there  was  no  other  way  of  beginning  for 
them,  there  is  no  other  way  of  continuing  for  us. 
In  taking  possession  of  new  territory  we  must  run 


THE   CHURCH  AND   THE  REPUBLIC.        319 

up  the  church,  and  we  must  run  it  up  in  the  very 
beginning.  The  Christian  church  must  be  there 
in  the  new  territory  to  help  formulate  the  charac- 
ter of  its  institutions,  and  to  breathe  the  soul  of 
Christ  into  its  gathering  society,  and  to  incarnate 
God  and  conscience  in  all  its  history  and  in  all  its 
progress.  That  is  the  way  it  was  in  the  begin- 
ning. That  is  the  way  Plymouth  Rock  was  taken 
possession  of.  It  is  good  to  keep  near  to  the  Plym- 
outh Rock  type  of  life.  Take  Plymouth  Rock 
out  of  the  Republic,  and  the  Republic  will  fall  to 
pieces  in  the  very  first  storm  upon  the  sands  of 
infidelity. 

So  imbedded  in  the  life  of  our  early  civic  fathers 
was  the  Christian  church  that  we  cannot  think  of 
them  apart  from  the  Christian  church.  The  church 
was  the  real  morning  of  the  state  with  them.  They 
saw  to  it  that  every  infant  settlement  had  its 
sanctuary,  until  ten  thousand  spires  pointed  upward 
to  the  Source  of  their  national  prosperity.  With 
them  this  was  the  method  of  their  political  build- 
ing: the  people  made  the  laws,  and  the  churches 
made  the  people.  Their  churches  were  local 
democracies,  and  of  each  one  this  was  the  motto : 
"One  is  your  Master,  and  all  ye  are  brethren." 
Their  churches  were  the  incarnation  of  federalism 
and  so  prophecies  of  the  coming  American  Union. 
They  built  into  New  England  general  intelligence, 
reverence  for  law,  and  faith  in  God.     These  were 


320    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  triple  foundations  which  they  put  underneath 
the  young  Republic.  When,  in  after  ages,  the  sons 
of  New-Englanders  moved  out  of  New  England 
and  sought  the  West  in  the  conquest  of  new  terri- 
tory, they  belted  this  whole  continent  with'  a  zone 
of  New-Englandism  and  built  this  triple  founda* 
tion  under  our  whole  political  fabric.  Into  the 
great  West  they  carried  with  them  their  churches, 
and  these  continued  what  they  were  in  the  begin- 
ning, centers  of  political  intelligence  and  of  patri- 
otic devotion  and  of  hope  for  the  future.  The 
holy  and  everlasting  principles  taught  in  the 
churches  wove  new  stars  and  stripes  to  float  over 
new  homes,  and  added  new  State  luminaries  to 
the  galaxy  which  dotted  the  blue  in  our  national 
banner.  Some  one  has  said,  "  Education  and  re- 
ligion are  at  home  wherever  our  flag  shakes  out  its 
folds,"  and  this  is  true;  but  there  is  a  truth  prior 
to  this  and  greater  than  this,  and  that  truth  is,  the 
stars  and  stripes  are  at  home  wherever  Christian 
education  and  the  Christian  religion  pioneer  and 
take  the  land  and  fill  it  with  churches. 

I  am  endeavoring  to-day  to  construct  an  argu- 
ment for  the  establishment  of  Christian  churches 
in  the  American  Republic  for  the  Republic's  good. 
But  in  doing  so  allow  me  to  define  the  type  of  a 
church  the  multiplication  of  which  I  ask.  I  would 
not  multiply  all  religious  entities  which  call  them- 
selves churches.     We  have  too  many  of  certain 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.         321 

types  of  church  already.  I  do  not  argue  for  a 
church  with  a  hierarchy ;  such  a  church  is  too  far 
away  from  the  people.  It  is  too  dogmatic ;  it 
carries  too  much  human  authority ;  it  savors  too 
much  of  aristocracy.  I  believe  that  the  authority 
of  the  truth  is  the  only  authority  which  belongs 
to  any  church.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  church 
should  have  thumbscrews  or  racks  or  dungeons  or 
swords  or  bayonets  or  muskets  or  cannons  of  any 
kind.  There  is  something  better  than  a  military 
religion  and  something  more  effective  than  a  police 
Christianity.  There  have  been  churches  whose 
sermons  have  had  back  of  them  the  sword  and 
whose  prayers  have  had  behind  them  the  musket, 
but  these  churches  have  had  their  day.  There  is 
room  in  our  Republic  only  for  churches  whose  in- 
fluence comes  from  their  goodness,  morality,  jus- 
tice, charity,  reasonableness,  weight  of  argument, 
and  amount  of  truth.  The  argument  which  has  to 
be  supported  by  any  kind  of  human  authority  is 
no  argument  at  all.  Every  true  argument  is  its 
own  authority.  A  prayer  which  must  have  a  can- 
non behind  it  had  better  never  be  offered.  A  truth 
which  has  not  force  enough  in  itself  to  push  itself 
and  gain  for  itself  acceptance  is  truth  which  had 
better  sink  out  of  sight  and  be  allowed  so  to  sink. 
A  church  which  demands  or  claims  anything  more 
than  the  simple  authority  of  the  truth  is  a  church 
in  which  liberty  is  crucified,  and  of  course  it  is  not 


322    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

expected  that  I  should  argue  for  churches  in  which 
liberty  is  crucified.  Such  churches  are  the  enemies 
of  our  Republic.  I  argue  for  churches  of  an  alto- 
gether different  spirit.  I  argue  for  churches  which 
teach  equality,  which  are  large-thoughted,  which 
broaden  a  man,  which  know  no  class  distinction 
among  men,  which  treat  capitalist  and  wage-earner 
alike,  which  preach  the  same  law  to  all,  which  hold 
up  a  lofty  ideal  on  all  lines  of  life,  which  teach  that 
nothing  is  politically  right  which  is  morally  wrong ; 
churches  which  believe  in  God  and  assert  God's 
truth,  which  believe  that  God's  opinions  ought 
to  be  our  opinions ;  churches  whose  theology  is 
axiomatic  and  which  push  self-evident  truths; 
churches  which  eschew  speculation  and  unwork- 
able hypotheses,  and  put  their  strength  into  the 
affirmation  of  essentials,  which  ask  no  more  ques- 
tions than  they  can  answer ;  churches  which  strike 
at  all  things  that  4ebauch  public  sentiment,  which 
touch  the  entire  life  of  the  community,  which 
never  discuss  great  and  living  issues  in  a  whisper, 
but  openly  ;  churches* which  talk  right  out  against 
all  evil,  which  believe  that  the  moral  law  should 
throttle  everything  unjust,  which  believe  in  man 
at  his  climax  and  which  will  not  rest  until  he 
reaches  his  climax;  churches  which  will  not  only 
allow  men  to  think  for  themselves,  but  which  will 
teach  them  to  think  for  themselves ;  churches 
whieh  are  practical  and  which  stg.nd  for  accredited 


THE    CHURCH  AND    THE   REPUBLIC.         r6'Z?> 

and  applied  Christianity ;  churches  which  refuse 
to  be  controlled  by  gold,  submitting  only  to  the 
rule  of  principle ;  churches  which  are  up  to  God  in 
their  aims  and  plans,  and  not  behind  God  ;  churches 
which  believe  in  real  Christians  and  not  in  nominal 
Christians,  which  believe  in  men  and  women  with 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  built  into  them ;  churches 
which  are  pillars  of  fire  in  dark  places,  which 
humiliate  men  before  their  own  consciences  when 
they  do  that  which  is  mean  and  low  and  vile ; 
churches  which  preach  a  full  salvation  through 
Jesus  Christ,  which  guide  the  thought  of  the  com- 
munity, hold  the  balances  of  judgment,  inspire  the 
motives  of  the  heart,  and  in  God's  name  give  de- 
cision to  the  will  of  the  multitude  ;  churches  which, 
under  God,  lead  in  truth  and  in  duty.  Such  are  the 
churches  Iarguefor,  for  such  churches  will  build  into 
the  American  Republic  the  elements  of  perpetuity. 
Have  such  been  the  churches  of  the  past  which 
have  led  the  American  Republic?  Not  wholly, 
but  in  a  measure — in  a  large  measure.  While  I 
say  in  a  large  measure  I  make  no  effort  to  hide 
facts.  I  do  not  screen  the  churches.  I  admit  that 
in  many  regards  they  have  been  unworthy  and 
have  deserved  the  rebukes  and  the  philippics  ad- 
ministered to  them.  For  example,  I  remember 
their  guilty  silence  when  negro  men  and  women 
and  negro  boys  and  girls  were  sold  at  ten  dollars 
and  twenty  dollars  and  thirty  dollars  a  pound,  and 


324    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

when  African  slavery,  under  the  reign  of  a  just 
God,  was  forging  the  thunderbolts  of  war  to  smite 
the  Republic.  I  remember  when  such  men  as 
Wendell  Phillips  and  such  women  as  Lydia  Maria 
Childs  refused  to  sit  down  at  the  communion- 
table of  the  churches  of  Boston,  because  the 
churches  refused  to  throw  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  oppressed.  These  lovers  of  liberty  met  to- 
gether by  themselves  and  observed  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  their  quiet  upper  room  ;  and  in  this  they 
were  right.  Churches  do  not  exist  for  a  contemp- 
tible silence,  or  for  a  detestable  neutrality,  or  for 
a  masterly  inactivity,  when  there  is  wrong  in  the 
air  and  when  it  is  the  duty  of  the  hour  to  utter  the 
protest  of  almighty  God  against  a  debasing  in- 
iquity. I  admit  the  delinquency  of  the  Christian 
churches  of  America  in  the  days  of  slavery,  but 
this  also  I  must  claim  for  the  churches :  by  and  by, 
under  the  leading  of  God,  they  finally  came  up  to 
the  performance  of  their  duty,  and  when  the  great 
crisis  was  reached  they  were  loyal  to  the  cause  of 
liberty.  Let  justice  be  done  all  around.  When 
the  time  came  to  sustain  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation and  make  its  principles  a  part  of  our 
federal  Constitution,  it  was  the  vote  of  the  Chris- 
tian churches  that  carried  the  day.  When  that 
crisis  came,  if  the  churches  had  not  done  their 
duty  African  slavery  would  have  remained  the 
curse  of  the  American  Republic  to  this  day. 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.         325 

I  have  pictured  the  character  of  the  churches 
for  which  I  argue  to-day  and  whose  multiplication 
I  seek.  Give  me  such  churches  and  you  give  me 
so  many  fountains  of  national  life  for  the  Republic 
— fountains  which  will  send  crystal  tides  of  purity 
and  vitality  through  every  artery  and  vein  of  our 
national  and  sectional  government  to  cleanse  and 
sweeten  and  heal  and  vitalize  our  government. 

I  wish  to  say  just  here  that  very  few  of  us  have 
any  adequate  conception  of  the  power  of  a  pure 
and  holy  and  loyal  Christian  church.  It  is  the 
parallel  of  irresistible  might.  It  can  carry  any 
good  cause  to  triumph  in  this  land  when  it  unitedly 
and  fully  asserts  itself  and  when  it  marches  to  the 
music  of  old  "  Coronation."  We  underestimate 
it,  because  when  we  think  of  the  church  we  think 
simply  of  the  pulpit  and  make  that  stand  for  the 
church.  The  pulpit  is  not  the  church  ;  the  church 
is  far  more  than  that.  The  church  includes  in 
itself  all  the  agencies  which  it  creates  and  supports 
and  mans.  The  religious  press,  the  religious  plat- 
form, Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Societies,  Sabbath-schools,  Chris- 
tian colleges  and  seminaries,  the  vast  missionary 
societies,  the  consecrated  gold  and  silver  in  the 
bank  vaults  of  Christians,  the  millions  of  devoted 
men  and  women  who  keep  step  to  the  purposes 
of  heaven,  and  the  millions  who  are  in  its  grand 
membership  and  who  form   the  hosts   of   God's 


326    MAKERS   OF   THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

elect — these  are  the  church,  and  not  merely  the 
pulpit  with  its  single  voice  here  and  there  proclaim- 
ing the  gospel.  Now  when  all  these  personalities 
and  agencies  and  influences  give  themselves  up  to 
the  work  of  God  on  earth,  and  to  the  pulling  down 
of  the  strongholds  of  sin  and  Satan,  what  can  suc- 
cessfully resist  them?  What  cannot  they  accom- 
plish ?  They  can  build  churches  by  the  thousands, 
mold  nations,  and  govern  the  world.  If  this  be 
true,  then  the  thing  our  Republic  wants  is  the 
church  of  God  everywhere  throughout  its  broad 
territory,  creating  and  supporting  its  redemptive 
agencies  and  forming  and  leading  public  senti- 
ment. 

At  this  point  I  imagine  you  ask  me  to  particu- 
larize. You  say  to  me,  "  You  are  asking  for  more 
Christian  churches,  and  that  in  the  name  of  the 
Republic ;  tell  us  wherein  the  Christian  churches 
benefit  the  Republic."  In  responding  to  this  re- 
quest I  will  indicate  two  ways  in  which  the  Chris- 
tian church  serves  the  American  Republic.  The 
first  way  is  this : 

I .  It  protects  and  fosters  those  institutions  which 
have  proved  a  blessing  to  the  Republic. 

I  will  center  my  thought  here  upon  one  institu- 
tion, viz.,  the  Christian  Sabbath.  The  rule  is, 
where  there  is  no  church  and  no  church-going 
there  is  no  Sabbath,  and  where  there  is  no  Sabbath 
and  no  Sabbath-keeping  there  is  no  religion,  and 


THE    CHURCH  AND    THE   REPUBLIC.         327 

where  there  is  no  religion  there  is  no  God,  and 
where  there  is  no  God  there  is  no  conscience,  and 
where  there  is  no  conscience  there  is  no  respect  for 
the  rights  of  men,  and  where  there  is  no  respect 
for  the  rights  of  men  there  is  no  security  for  life 
or  property.  Now  take  religion,  God,  conscience, 
respect  for  the  rights  of  man,  and  protection  of  life 
and  property  out  of  the  American  Republic,  and 
just  how  much  of  what  is  left  would  be  worth 
having? 

How  are  men  to  be  made  good  and  honest  and 
trustworthy  and  upright  without  a  time  for  reli- 
gious culture?  That  population  which  habitually 
neglects  the  pulpit  or  its  equivalent  can  ultimately 
be  led  by  the  merest  charlatan,  and  will  be.  Look 
abroad  over  the  map  of  popular  freedom  in  the 
world  and  you  will  find  that  it  is  not  accidental 
that  Switzerland  and  Scotland  and  England  and 
the  United  States,  the  lands  where  the  Sabbath  is 
best  observed,  are  almost  the  entire  map  of  safe 
popular  government. 

The  Sabbath  is  the  starting-point  of  great  good 
in  our  land,  and  any  instrument  which  will  guard  and 
protect  that  is  of  incomparable  value  to  us  and  our 
country.  I  ask  no  stronger  argument  for  the  Sab- 
bath than  this,  viz.,  the  finest  type  of  our  Ameri- 
can men  are  its  Christian  Sabbatarians.  They  are 
first  in  morals ;  they  lead  in  all  the  great  humani- 
ties ;  they  project  the  highest  and  most  practical 


328    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ideals  ;  they  build  up  the  noblest  and  most  enviable 
lives;  they  leave  behind  them  gifts  redolent  with 
blessings  and  beautiful  with  hopes  and  aspirations 
for  the  progress  of  their  fellow-men  and  their 
country  ;  they  leave  Pratt  Institutes  and  Packer 
Institutes,  and  beneficent  homes  and  asylums. 
Their  Sabbaths  are  their  most  telling  days.  Sab- 
bath rest  makes  them  steady-nerved  and  clear- 
brained  and  strong-hearted  and  sweet-tempered 
and  tender  and  broad  in  their  sympathies. 

There  is  a  myth  concerning  an  old  painter 
that  by  a  happy  chance  he  compounded  one  day 
a  certain  mordant  which,  colorless  itself,  possessed 
the  power  of  heightening  every  color  with  which 
it  was  mixed.  By  the  help  of  his  discovery,  from 
being  a  common  artist  he  rose  to  the  position  of  a 
noted  master.  His  works  were  renowned  for  the 
marvelous  brilliance  of  their  tints.  On  his  canvas 
was  produced  in  exactest  hue  the  waving  emerald 
of  the  forest,  the  silver  gleam  of  the  river,  the 
swimming  light  of  the  sunset,  and  the  infinite  azure 
of  the  sky.  Everywhere  and  always  the  charm  of 
the  .picture  was  due  to  that  colorless  nurse  of  color, 
which  by  its  strange  alchemy  transfigured  the  crude- 
ness  and  coarseness  of  the  common  tint. 

My  fellow-man,  it  is  not  mere  ecclesiastical  prej- 
udice which  asserts  that  our  American  Sabbath 
has  silently  and  similarly  wrought  vigor  and  at- 
tractiveness and  power  into   our  American   life. 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.         329 

All  fair-minded  judges  pronounce  it  our  social 
mordant.  The  student  of  legislation,  the  observer 
of  our  domestic  and  social  prosperity,  the  inquirer 
into  the  excellences  of  our  educational  system,  one 
and  all  find  everywhere  the  influence  of  national 
reverence  for  the  Lord's  day.  Unrecognized  in 
its  workings,  the  Sabbath  is  the  element  that  has 
wrought  out  the  choice  beauty  of  the  best  things 
of  which  we  boast.  To  it,  and  largely  to  it,  we 
are  indebted  for  juster  laws,  better  schools,  happier 
homes,  greater  security  of  social  order,  than  can 
be  found  in  any  other  land. 

There  is  a  second  way  in  which  the  Christian 
church  serves  the  American  Republic.      It  is  this : 

2.  It  keeps  before  the  people  the  true  idea  zvitJi 
regard  to  national  greatness  and  national  strength. 

This  point  leads  right  into  the  midst  of  one  of 
the  burning  questions  of  the  day,  viz.,  What  are 
the  strong  pillars  of  our  Republic  ?  What  elements 
do  we  need  to  give  our  nation  perpetuity?  Even 
scholarly  men,  like  the  president  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, have  brought  their  minds  to  bear  upon  this 
question  and  have  felt  the  importance  of  trying  to 
correct  wrong  views,  which  are  so  largely  the  pop- 
ular views.  President  Eliot  has  an  elaborate  article 
in  a  recent  issue  of  the  "  Forum  "  on  this  subject, 
"  Some  Reasons  Why  the  American  Republic  may 
Endure."  The  things  which  he  enumerates  he 
calls  the  new  principles  and  forces  which  make  for 


330    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  permanency  of  the  Republic.  In  his  article  he 
first  reviews  the  history  of  all  the  boasted  republics 
of  time  and  shows  wherein  their  strength  lay.  But 
none  of  these  republics  proved  permanent,  and  yet 
they  had  all  of  the  things  which,  the  casual  obser- 
ver imagines,  constitute  our  greatness.  They  had 
broad  lands,  great  wealth,  luxurious  living,  large 
inter-commerce,  fine  military  equipment,  fine  arch- 
itecture, great  achievements  in  sculpture  and  art, 
and  vast  population.  These  did  not  save  the  re- 
publics of  Rome  and  Greece  and  Italy  and  France 
and  Mexico,  and  alone,  with  no  other  possessions, 
these  cannot  save  the  American  Republic.  It 
ought  not  to  be  the  destiny  of  the  American  Re- 
public to  repeat  the  history  of  these  ancient  powers. 
But  make  New  York  a  second  Carthage,  and  Boston 
a  second  Athens,  and  Philadelphia  a  second  Anti- 
och,  and  Washington  a  second  Rome,  and  our  Re- 
public will  simply  repeat  the  old  experiment  of 
history.  When  he  has  set  forth  this  fact  President 
Eliot  proceeds  to  enumerate  and  elaborate  the  ele- 
ments in  which  our  strength  consists.  They  are 
such'  as  these :  toleration  in  religion,  general  edu- 
cation, better  domestic  relations,  publicity  of  life 
(secured  by  the  morning  and  evening  issue  of  the 
daily  press),  platform  discussion  of  everything  that 
pertains  to  the  public  welfare,  increase  of  mutual 
dependence  of  man  on  man  and  the  growing  sense 
of  brotherhood  and  unity,  and,  finally,  the  greater 


THE   CHURCH  AXD    THE  REPUBLIC.        331 

hopefulness  of  men  as  they  deal  with  God  and  with 
man  and  with  the  broad  world. 

There  is  much  that  is  tonic  in  this  timely  article 
of  the  president  of  Harvard.  But  my  point  is 
this :  all  that  he  presents,  which  is  true  and  which 
is  in  harmony  with  history  and  with  facts,  the 
church  of  God  has  been  presenting  from  the  very 
beginning  of  our  national  life.  The  church  has 
been  asserting  all  along  that  it  is  not  material 
wealth,  but  moral  wealth,  that  makes  a  nation  ;  not 
broad  acres,  but  principles.  It  is  not  gold,  but 
men — men  of  God.  It  is  the  things  of  God  that 
make  a  nation  strong  and  keep  it  strong.  It  is 
character,  personality,  ideas,  that  make  a  nation. 

The  church,  in  teaching  American  citizens, 
begins  with  God.  The  first  essential  is  to  get  into 
right  relation  with  God,  to  get  His  law  written  on 
the  heart  and  incorporated  in  the  life.  Institutions 
must  harmonize  with  His  will,  and  so  must  rulers, 
and  so  must  voters.  The  church,  in  instructing 
American  citizens,  sets  Jesus  Christ  before  men  as 
the  pattern  after  which  to  model.  His  views  of 
man,  man's  dignity,  man's  rights,  man's  needs, 
must  be  held.  His  principles  and  His  views  of 
doctrines  concerning  God  must  be  adopted.  The 
divine  love  which  shines  out  of  His  cross  must  be 
allowed  to  dominate  all  the  affairs  of  human  life. 
His  hopefulness  must  be  granted  an  entrance  into 
the  souls  of  men.     His  manhood  must  be  repro- 


332    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

duced  in  our  citizens,  and  the  nation  must  wheel 
itself  into  line  with  the  purposes  of  His  coming 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and  love.  It 
is  the  mission  of  this  nation  and  of  every  nation  to 
prepare  the  way,  so  that  the  pure,  white,  and  un- 
sullied feet  of  the  Christ  may  be  able  to  ascend  the 
steps  that  lead  to  His  millennial  throne. 

"  In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies  Christ  was  born  across  the  sea, 
With  a  glory  in  His  bosom  that  transfigures  you  and  me; 
As  He  died  to  make  men  holy, 
Let  us  die  to  make  men  free. 
Our  God  is  marching  on." 

The  church  of  God  is  laboring,  and  has  been 
laboring,  to  make  our  nation  a  Christian  nation  in 
the  highest  and  truest  sense,  and  to  my  mind  there 
is  nothing  equal  to  that.  That  is  the  only  road  to 
perpetuity.  There  is  a  grand  glory  in  a  Christian 
nation.  It  is  the  greatest  known  living  force  in 
the  world.  Take  England,  for  example.  "  Not 
alone  with  drum-beat,"  as  Webster  has  put  it,  "  has 
she  encircled  the  earth."  She  has  carried  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity  wherever  she  has  carried  her 
flag;  and  she  has  carried  also  with  her  flag  her 
noble  language,  with  its  treasures  of  literature  and 
science  and  religion.  She  has  planted  great  in- 
stitutions and  principles  in  every  latitude  of  the 
globe.  Even  we  have  inherited  much  from  her. 
All  that  is  grand  and  good  in  our  national  life  we 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.         333 

have  inherited  from  the  Bible  she  gave  us  and 
from  the  Christian  churches  which  Englishmen, 
and  men  kindred  with  them,  have  planted  on  our 
soil. 

Do  I  properly  magnify  and  represent  the  Chris- 
tian church,  this  institution  of  God  which  announces 
the  law  of  God,  and  which  guards  the  day  of  God, 
and  which  labors  to  make  the  nation  Christian? 
Is  it  the  power  in  this  land  of  ours  which  I  have 
represented  it  to  be?  If  so,  then  duty  is  plain, 
and  there  is  no  escape  from  duty.  What  is  duty? 
It  is  duty  to  give  the  Republic  Christian  churches. 
Build  a  church  in  every  valley  and  put  a  bell  on 
it,  build  a  church  on  every  hilltop  and  put  a  bell 
on  it,  build  a  church  on  every  prairie  and  put  a 
bell  on  it,  build  a  church  on  every  ranch  of  Texas 
and  New  Mexico  and  put  a  bell  on  it,  build  a 
church  amid  the  snows  of  Alaska  and  put  a  bell 
on  it.  When  you  have  done  all  this,  then  set 
these  bells  a-ringing,  singly  and  all  together.  Let 
them  ring  out  everywhere  a  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son 
of  David!"  and  call  all  the  people  to  Sabbath  rest 
and  Sabbath  worship  and  Sabbath  fellowship  and 
Sabbath  instruction.  Keep  the  air  vibrating  with 
the  ten  thousand  thousand  chimes  until,  in  the 
language  of  the  Hebrew  prophet,  our  land  may 
rightly  be  called  "  Praise."  When  we  have  church 
bells  everywhere,  from  Alaska  to  New  Mexico,  and 
from  Maine  to  California,  then  we  can  challenge 


334    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

them  to  do  their  God-assigned  work  for  the  Amer- 
ican Republic.      We  can  say  to  them : 

"  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  hew; 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

"  Ring  out  a  slowly  dying  cause 

And  ancient  forms  of  party  strife ; 
Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life, 
With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

"  Ring  out  false  pride  in  place  and  blood, 
The  civic  slander  and  the  spite ; 
Ring  in  the  love  of  truth  and  right, 
Ring  in  the  common  love  of  good. 

"  Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land; 

Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold; 
Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old, 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace." 

But  let  me  get  a  little  nearer  the  duty  of  the 
morning,  a  little  nearer  the  collection  basket.  We 
have  found  that  the  churches  of  God  are  blessings 
to  our  Republic ;  the  questions  now  are,  Where 
shall  we  plant  them,  and  how?  The  great  cause 
of  Home  Missions,  which  knocks  at  our  door  this 
morning,  answers  both  questions.  Plant  them  at 
the  strategic  points  which  we  have  chosen  in  the 
North  and  West,  and  which  form  our  field  of  labor, 
and  plant  them  by  contributing  of  your  gold  to 
replenish  our  treasury.  Let  there  be  no  footsteps 
backward  in  giving  and  in  sending.  Brethren,  a 
great  field  is  open  to  us  in  the  great  West — fields 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.        335 

as  large  as  Germany,  as  large  as  England,  as  large 
as  France.  You  could  take  the  whole  of  France 
and  put  it  into  the  State  of  Texas  and  then  have 
a  border  of  twenty  miles  all  around  uncovered. 

San  Francisco  is  only  the  center  point  of  our 
territory  west.  It  is  as  far  to  the  end  of  Alaska 
from  San  Francisco  as  it  is  from  here  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. The  six  States  recently  received  into  the 
Union  have  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  entire  area  of 
the  United  States  if  you  exclude  Alaska.  And 
all  this  is  our  land. 

And  remember  the  gigantic  growth  of  population 
in  these  frontier  States.  It  is  just  as  gigantic  as 
the  land.  The  question  of  the  Christian  guidance 
of  this  our  Titanic  growth  is  the  grave  question 
which  confronts  us,  and  it  is  a  question  which 
touches  the  very  life  of  the  nation.  The  gigantic 
work  to  be  done  out  there  calls  for  gigantic  giving 
here.  We  must  give  the  great  West  Christian 
workers  and  Christian  gold.  We  must  give  the 
great  West  Christian  churches.  We  must  not  let 
the  growth  get  ahead  of  the  cultivation.  Chicago 
is  an  illustration  of  the  growth  we  may  expect  in 
Western  fields.  In  1830  the  Chicago  directory 
was  not  a  very  portly  volume.  The  commercial 
and  business  section  of  it  stands  thus ;  I  will  read 
you  the  whole  of  it :  "  Taverns,  two ;  Indian  trad- 
ers, three;  butchers,  one;  merchants,  one."  The 
poll  list  for  the  county  election  embraced  thirty- 


336    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

two  voters.  To-day  the  directory  of  Chicago  is 
larger  than  that  of  New  York.  To-day  Chicago 
requires  Lake  Michigan  as  a  goblet  to  satisfy  its 
thirsty  lips.  If  that  be  an  index  of  Western 
growth,  soon  the  shanty  or  umbrella  towns  of  to- 
day, with  a  great  deal  of  outdoors  to  them,  will 
rapidly  become  teeming  centers  of  life. 

Although  our  task  is  great,  there  is  one  thing 
in  our  favor :  our  dominion  is  not  fractional  and 
therefore  not  hard  of  access.  With  the  exception 
of  Alaska,  it  lies  in  one  undivided  body  and  is  ani- 
mated practically  by  one  blood,  one  national  lan- 
guage, and  it  is  living  under  one  law,  enacted  at 
one  common  center.  This  is  a  great  advantage 
and  a  help  in  evangelizing  the  Republic.  In  this 
regard  it  contrasts  with  the  British  empire.  Her 
cosmopolitan  dominion  is  scattered  over  the  world 
in  forty-five  parcels. 

When  I  look  at  the  great  work  to  be  done,  I 
thank  God  for  the  Home  Missionary  boards  of  the 
different  denominations,  who  are  so  alive  to  the 
needs  of  the  hour  and  so  willing  to  push  the  work. 
These  boards  have  done  grand  service  for  our  coun- 
try. I  want  to  tell  you  this :  I  have  found  out  by 
investigation  that  the  first  churches  in  Cleveland, 
in  Sandusky,  in  Galena,  in  Beloit,  in  Dubuque,  in 
Burlington,  in  Leavenworth,  in  Omaha,  in  Chey- 
enne, in  Tacoma,  and  in  other  important  centers, 
were  Home  Missionary  churches.    The  Home  Mis- 


THE   CHURCH  AND    THE  REPUBLIC.         337 

sionary  societies  have  founded  over  five  sixths  of 
all  the  churches  in  the  great  Western  States.  In 
view  of  this  I  am  ready  to-day  to  affirm  that  if  you 
subtract  the  Home  Missionary  societies  from  our 
national  history,  you  subtract  the  freedom  from  our 
Republic.  Since  this  is  so,  we  cannot  be  too  lib- 
eral with  our  Home  Missionary  Society;  we  can- 
not make  our  collection  too  large. 

Here  I  am  face  to  face  with  the  collection.  I 
have  mentioned  that  obnoxious  word  "  collection." 
And  the  times  are  hard ;  and  I  want  more  than 
usual,  for  more  is  needed.  When  I  call  at  your 
homes  to  see  you  socially,  you  show  me  your 
palatial  mansions,  and  your  treasures  of  art  and  of 
beauty  which  you  have  brought  from  abroad ;  a 
word  now  and  then  drops  out  about  some  success- 
ful business  enterprise  ;  and  then  there  are  hints  of 
gain  and  of  financial  ability.  But  these  are  not  the 
things  we  hear  of,  talk  about,  or  think  about  when 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  collection  basket. 
We  forget  all  about  our  palatial  houses.  We  talk 
about  going  to  the  poorhouse.  We  canvass  the 
cost  of  living.  We  figure  up  the  school  bills  of 
our  children.  We  lament  our  large  tax  bills.  We 
look  at  how  we  are  swindled  by  political  corruption. 
We  figure  how  much  the  city  was  cheated  in  the 
erection  of  the  Soldiers'  Arch.  Then  we  come  back 
to  the  point  we  started  with :  the  times  are  hard, 
very  hard.     Do  you  know  that  in  all  this  you  only 


338    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

show  me  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger,  and  not  the 
credit  side — your  liabilities,  and  not  your  assets? 
What  about  those  corner  lots,  those  mortgages, 
those  stocks,  those  dividends,  rentals,  that  interest, 
those  accumulations  of  past  years?  Oh,  that 
debit  side  of  your  ledger,  with  taxes  and  debts! 
I  sympathize  with  you.  It  is  an  awful  burden 
and  plague  and  worry.  I  come  to  your  relief.  I 
have  a  generous  proposition  to  make.  Let  me  tell 
you  what  I  will  do.  I  will  take  the  debit  side  of 
the  combined  ledgers  of  this  great  church  if  you 
will  give  me  the  credit  side  of  the  combined  ledgers, 
and  I  will  pay  your  taxes  and  your  children's  school 
bills  and  the  necessary  expenses  of  your  house- 
holds— eliminating  the  superfluities,  of  course,  i.e., 
the  debts  which  you  incur  by  bowing  down  to  and 
obeying  a  godless,  carnalizing  fashion.  More  than 
this,  I  will  not  only  pay  all  necessary  bills, — ne- 
cessary from  a  Christian  standpoint, — but  I  will 
abolish  all  collections  for  home  missions  and  foreign 
missions  and  city  missions,  and  all  missions,  and  I 
will  contribute  to  all  these  grand  essential  causes, 
without  a  collection,  from  the  credit  side  of  your 
ledgers,  and, I  will  contribute  so  largely  as  to  raise 
the  name  of  this  church  in  the  estimation  of  the 
community  and  of  all  church  boards  and  all  de- 
served charity  organizations.  I  am  not  through 
yet.  And  then,  out  of  the  remainder  of  the  funds 
left,  I  will  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  church  and 


THE    CHURCH  AND    THE   REPUBLIC.         339 

of  the  chapels,  and  I  will  generously  double  the 
salaries  of  all  the  salaried  workers,  and  add  a  third 
to  the  salary  of  the  choir,  and  give  a  trifle  of  a 
dividend  to  my  faithful  elders  and  deacons  and 
trustees  to  encourage  them  and  make  them  more 
faithful.  And  when  I  have  done  all  this  I  will 
guarantee  to  show  you  a  large  and  a  respectable 
balance.  That  is  my  offer.  If  it  is  accepted  on 
the  spot,  the  contribution  of  this  church  to-day  to 
home  missions  will  be  the  largest  ever  known  in  its 
history. 

If  you  reject  my  proposition,  then  forever  cease 
talking  about  hard  times  on  collection  Sabbath,  or 
of  school  bills  or  taxes,  or  of  the  debit  side  of  your 
ledger.  If  my  proposition  is  rejected  and  you 
think  you  can  do  better  for  the  home  mission 
cause  and  for  the  reputation  of  this  church  than  I 
have  proposed  to  do,  I  submit  to  your  decision  and 
step  out  of  the  way  and  give  you  your  golden  op- 
portunity.    The  collection  will  now  be  taken  up. 


XL 
AMERICA  FOR    CHRIST. 


341 


XI. 

AMERICA    FOR    CHRIST.* 

In  one  of  his  glowing  letters  Paul  the  Hebrew 
writes  to  his  fellow-countrymen,  "  Brethren,  my 
heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  Israel  is,  that 
they  might  be  saved." 

These  burning  words  introduce  Paul  as  a  citizen. 
They  photograph  him  as  he  appears  in  a  supreme 
patriotic  moment,  and  the  result  is  a  magnificent 
personage — a  Christian  patriot.  The  camera  of 
inspiration  catches  the  picture  just  as  an  intense 
prayer  leaps  from  his  intense  soul.  Although  the 
prayer  is  condensed  into  one  brief  sentence,  yet  it 
is  a  prayer  of  magnificent  sweep.  It  seeks  the 
grandest  display  of  the  glory  of  the  true  God  and 
the  greatest  good  of  a  whole  nation.  The  patri- 
otic prayer  of  the  apostle  at  first  sight  seems  like 
a  chance  thing,  the  creation  of  a  second,  the  out- 
burst of  a  passing  emotion  ;  but  it  is  not;  it  is  far 
more  than  that.   "  It  is  not  a  meteor  sentiment,  a 

*  Delivered  in  Park  Street  Church,  Boston,  Mass. 
345 


346    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

flash  in  the  sky  followed  by  the  usual  darkness. 
It  is  a  burning,  soul-absorbing  desire ;  it  is  a  regal 
passion;  it  is  a  well-considered  purpose  wearing 
the  robes  of  a  prayer;  it  is  the  climax  of  a  long 
train  of  thought. 

Paul  had  before  him  two  great  objects,  Christ 
and  Country,  and  these  he  had  been  contemplating 
whh  all  the  powers  of  his  giant  faculties.  These 
had  for  some  time  absorbed  his  whole  being.  He 
had  been  contemplating  Christ :  Christ's  wonder- 
ful and  transforming  character;  Christ's  holy  and 
regenerating  doctrines;  Christ's  world-wide  prin- 
ciples, which  carry  in  them  life  and  power  and  per- 
petuity for  nations  ;  Christ's  crown  rights  and  royal 
prerogatives ;  Christ's  enthronement  in  heaven ; 
Christ's  investiture  with  the  universal  scepter; 
Christ's  name,  which  is  written  upon  His  vesture 
and  on  His  thigh,  "  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords;"  Christ's  coming  future,  with  the  marching 
hosts  of  truth  sweeping  on  to  victory  and  trampling 
underfoot  all  resisting  foes. 

He  had  also  been  contemplating  his  country. 
He  knew  his  country  well,  and  it  was  vividly  be- 
fore his  mind.  All  its  beauty  and  greatness  passed 
before  him.  Jerusalem  in  its  glory,  the  joy  of  all 
the  land ;  Eshcol  with  its  clusters ;  Lebanon  with 
its  majestic  cedars ;  the  temple  of  marble  and  gold 
with  its  sacred  memories ;  Gilead  with  its  healing 
balm  ;  the  rolling  Jordan  with  its  baptismal  waters ; 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  Ml 

HerrtiOrt  with  its  sparkling  dew;  Sharon  with  its 
blooming  roses;  and  the  valley  of  Esdraelon  with 
its  waving  crops — all  the  history  of  his  country 
passed  in  review  before  him,  and  we  hear  him  re- 
capitulate to  his  heart  the  shining  facts  in  its 
record.  "To  my  people,"  he  says,  "  pertaineth 
the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and 
the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and 
the  promises ;  whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom 
as  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came,  who  is  over 
all,  God  blessed  forever." 

You  see  the  contemplation  which  had  been  hold- 
ing the  soul  of  the  apostle,  and  in  it  you  see  the 
origin  of  his  prayer.  Christ  and  country  were 
united  in  his  deepest  thinking,  and  this  was  the 
reason  that  when  he  came  to  pray  Christ  and  coun- 
try were  united  in  his  most  ardent  supplication. 
He  saw  his  country's  antagonism  to  Christ,  and  the 
doom  which  inevitably  awaited  it  if  it  continued  its 
antagonism.  It  had  just  crucified  Jesus.  He  saw 
also  the  glory  that  awaited  Israel  if  it  would  only 
repent  of  its  crucifixion  of  Jesus  and  bow  in  loyalty 
to  His  scepter.  Standing  before  these  things,  his 
patriotism  burned  at  a  white  heat.  He  was  like 
John  Knox,  the  Scottish  reformer,  of  whose  patri- 
otic agony  history  gives  us  such  a  vivid  picture. 
Casting  himself  prostrate  in  prayer  before  the  God 
of  nations,  Knox's  cry  to  God  was,  "  Give  me 
Scotland,  or  I  die!"   "Scotland  for  Christ!  "    Paul's 


348    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

cry  to  God  was,  "  Give  me  Israel,  or  I  die ! "  "  Is- 
rael for  Christ!" 

From  Paul  we  wish  to  learn  our  duty  to  our 
country.  We  wish  his  patriotism  to  relive  in  us; 
we  wish  to  bring  before  our  souls  the  two  objects 
which  he  brought  before  his  soul, — Christ  and 
Country , — that  we  may  pray  as  he  prayed.  It  is 
our  privilege  to  see  Christ  as  Paul  saw  Him ;  more 
than  this,  it  is  our  privilege  to  look  at  the  march 
of  Christ  through  nineteen  centuries.  The  centu- 
ries transfigure  Him  and  give  Him  an  added  glory. 
They  reveal  Him  as  the  mighty  force  in  history. 
History  reveals  that  the  ruling  nations  of  the  age 
are  the  nations  in  which  He  is  honored. 

It  is  our  privilege  to  see  a  country  equal  to 
Paul's  country.  We  look  at  our  country  after  a 
century  and  a  quarter  of  progress,  and  what  a 
panorama  of  grandeur  do  we  see  in  our  native 
land !  What  broad  acres  full  of  the  bread  of  life 
for  the  hungry !  There  are  millions  and  trillions 
of  acres.  What  magnificent  mountains  and  rivers 
and  lakes!  what  inland  and  what  shore-land!  what 
salubrity  of  climate,  the  best  of  all  zones !  From 
lake  to  gulf,  and  from  sea  to  sea,  there  is  salubrity. 
There  is  a  happy  mean  of  temperature,  neither  too 
rigorous  nor  too  luxurious,  but  a  temperature  de- 
manding healthful  activity.  What  a  country !  A 
country  abounding  in  wood  and  stone  and  coal  and 
cotton  and  iron  and  oil  and  precious  metals  and  all 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  S40 

the  staples  of  the  world.  It  is  a  country  whose 
resources  are  so  distributed  as  to  require  an  ex- 
tended commerce  and  the  varied  activities  of  agri- 
culture and  manufacture  and  trade,  all  of  which 
are  blessings  to  any  nation,  giving  it  work  and 
vitality  and  strength.  It  is  a  country  in  itself  cal- 
culated to  keep  the  many  States  of  our  Union  one 
and  united.  The  very  configuration  of  our  land 
demands  national  unity,  while  the  lakes  and  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  with  its  vast  net- 
work of  tributaries,  tie  all  indissolubly  together. 
Antagonistic  nationalities  could  not  occupy  our 
land.  To  them  it  would  be  a  vast  plain  of  per- 
petual war.  They  would  require  chains  of  forts 
from  Boston  to  San  Francisco.  To  a  united  people 
it  seems  purposely  laid  out  for  a  grand  civilization. 
It  requires  one  people,  one  language,  one  litera- 
ture, one  religion.  Pervaded  and  controlled  by 
the  same  language  and  institutions  and  senti- 
ments of  brotherhood,  it  becomes  a  splendid  school 
for  humanity's  higher  education,  a  workshop  for 
the  grandest  of  achievements,  and  a  home  for  all 
beautiful  graces  and  brotherly  fellowships. 

Not  only  have  we  a  great  land,  but,  like  Israel 
of  old,  we  have  a  grand  history.  We  started  with 
the  past  as  our  inheritance.  Our  historian  Motley 
tells  us  that  American  democracy  is  the  result  of 
all  that  was  great  in  the  bygone  time.  All  leads 
up  to  it  and  it  embodies  all.     Mount  Sinai  is  in  it, 


350    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC, 

Greece  is  in  it,  and  so  is  Rome,  and  so  is  Egypt, 
and  so  is  England.  All  the  arts  are  in  it,  all  the 
reformations  are  in  it,  all  the  discoveries  are  in  it. 
As  it  fronts  the  future  it  carries  in  it  glorious  pro- 
phetic eras  eclipsing  all.  As  we  look  back  we  are 
like  Paul ;  we  cannot  refrain  from  enumerating  the 
providential  things  in  our  past.  What  providential 
things  ?  I  consider  this  as  providential.  Our  land 
was  colonized,  not  by  effete  despotisms  of  church 
and  state,  not  by  the  Romish  Church  with  its  anti- 
quated ritualism  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  not  by 
despotic  Spain,  and  not  by  gay  and  flippant  France, 
but  by  Britain,  whose  people  had  grandly  battled 
their  way  to  constitutional  liberty,  and  who  had 
the  richest  language  and  the  grandest  literature  and 
the  most  solid  progress  in  all  the  line  of  European 
nationalities.  Nor  is  this  all.  Our  land  was  col- 
onized by  the  very  flower  of  England,  the  God- 
fearing few  who  would  rather  die  than  be  false,  and 
who  were  willing  to  brave  the  unknown  perils  of 
an  unknown  land  in  order  that  they  might  have 
freedom  to  worship  God.  The  choicest  heroes  and 
saints  of  the  Old  World  became  the  pioneers  and 
leaders  of  the  New  World.  When  we  stand  amid 
these  things  and  contemplate,  when  we  recall  the 
sufficiency  of  Christ  for  a  nation  and  even  for  a 
world,  when  we  recall  the  past  of  our  nation  with 
its  attainments,  and  when  we  think  of  the  far 
greater  future  with   its  possibilities,   as  patriotic 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  351 

Christians  there  is  only  one  cry  in  our  souls,  and 
that  is,  "  America  for  Christ !  Christ  for  America ! " 

I  mean  to  push  this  motto ;  I  push  it  on  three 
grounds :  for  America's  sake,  for  the  world's  sake, 
for  Christ's  sake. 

i.  We  demand  America  for  Christ  for  Amer- 
ica's sake. 

We  know  what  Christ  does  for  an  individual 
when  he  yields  himself  up  to  Him;  He  fills  him 
with  His  own  life  and  makes  him  one  of  the  lumi- 
naries of  the  world.  He  lifts  the  apostles  out  of  the 
fishing-boats  and  places  them  upon  the  thrones  of 
thought  which  rule  the  ages ;  He  makes  Paul  a 
leader  of  mankind  ;  He  makes  Luther  a  reformer 
of  a  whole  kingdom.  We  know  what  is  the  result 
of  treason  to  Christ.  The  doom  of  Judas  shows 
us  this.  Contrast  Judas  and  John,  Judas  and  Peter, 
Judas  and  James.  Contrast  Christlessness  with 
Christfulness.  The  difference  between  them  is  the 
difference  between  day  and  night,  between  success 
and  failure.  Now,  what  Christlessness  and  Christ- 
fulness  are  in  the  individual  man,  Christlessness 
and  Christfulness  are  in  the  nation.  A  nation  is 
only  an  aggregation  of  individual  men.  Christ 
deals  with  nations.  In  His  sight  nations  are  moral 
personalities.  They  perform  all  the  functions  of 
a  moral  person,  and  He  treats  them  according  to 
their  character.  Divorce  your  nation  from  Christ 
and  you  ring  its  death-knell ;  you  link  its  fate  to 


352    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  fate  of  Judas.  Marry  your  nation  to  Christ  and 
you  open  for  it  a  door  into  a  new  future  and  secure 
for  it  a  place  among  the  nations  of  the  world  like 
that  which  Paul  occupied  among  men.  Tell  me 
how  the  American  Republic  will  treat  Christ  and 
I  will  tell  you  the  future  of  the  American  Repub- 
lic. Because  the  destiny  of  this  nation  depends 
upon  its  relation  to  Christ,  I  stand  at  the  portals 
of  the  nation  and  as  a  loyal  citizen  cry,  "  Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates;  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye 
everlasting  doors;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall 
come  in." 

We  are  not  willing  to  dwell  upon  this  fact  at 
which  I  have  hinted,  viz.,  the  very  life  of  our  Re- 
public depends  upon  its  loyalty  to  the  King  of 
kings.  But  as  patriots  it  is  our  duty  to  read  this 
fact  from  the  sacred  page  of  God's  Book,  and  act 
upon  it,  rather  than  wait  until  God  compels  us  to 
read  the  fact  in  the  ashes  of  our  Republic  when  it 
is  too  late  to  act. 

The  whole  story  is  told  us  in  the  Second  Psalm. 
In  this  psalm  we  have  a  complete  treatise  with  re- 
gard to  the  duty  of  a  nation  Godward.  It  teaches 
us  that  civil  government  is  of  God  and  that  God  is 
the  Ruler  of  the  nations.  He  rules  nations  through 
"the  Anointed,"  i.e.,  the  Christ.  He  has  put  all 
authority  into  the  pierced  hands,  and  nations  must 
acknowledge  the  Crucified  One  or  meet  the  traitor's 
fate.     There  is  a  wonderful  and  an  expressive  pic- 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  353 

ture  in  the  Second  Psalm.  In  it  we  see  God  walk- 
ing among  the  nations  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  just 
as  a  potter  walks  among  the  newly  finished  vessels 
that  have  been  brought  out  of  the  kiln.  The  potter 
has  an  ideal  for  every  vessel  which  has  been  shaped 
in  the  pottery,  and  burned,  and  given  permanence. 
The  potter  has  a  reputation  to  sustain  for  ideal  and 
for  skill  of  execution,  and  in  every  vessel  which  he 
shapes  and  finishes  his  reputation  is  at  stake.  He 
examines  every  vessel  minutely.  In  his  hand  he 
holds  an  iron  rod,  and  when  he  comes  to  a  mis- 
shapen, defective  vessel,  he  deals  it  a  crushing  blow 
and  strikes  it  into  dust.  Why?  Because  a  mis- 
shapen vessel  is  a  slander  and  a  slur.  It  maligns 
his  reputation  and  falsifies  his  skill.  Even  so  God 
has  a  reputation  to  sustain  in  the  business  of  nation- 
making;  and  in  His  tour  of  inspection  among  the 
nations  and  kingdoms  of  the  earth  He  must  shatter 
with  His  rod  of  iron  and  cast  out  of  sight  all  those 
nations  which  by  oppression  and  godlessness 
slander  His  reputation  and  misrepresent  His  civic 
ideal.  The  only  wisdom  of  a  nation  is  to  wheel 
into  line  with  God  and  accord  with  the  divine  ideal. 
History  is  only  a  transcript  of  this  psalm,  a  trans- 
lation of  the  printed  page  into  actual  life.  The 
highway  of  history  is  right  through  the  shattered 
fragments  of  nationalities  which  have  been  broken 
under  the  stroke  of  God's  rod  of  judgment.  Na- 
tions mightier  than  ours  have  been  shivered. 


354    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

As  American  patriots  we  should  not  allow  our^ 
selves  to  be  blind  to  facts  by  a  foolish  optimism. 
We  should  not  be  puffed  up  with  Yankee  conceit, 
as  though  danger  were  an  impossible  thing  to  us. 
With  all  our  greatness,  the  God  of  nations  could 
break  us  in  pieces  with  a  single  stroke.  Our  only 
protection  is  loyalty  to  Christ.  We  must  make 
our  land  and  keep  our  land  a  gospel  land.  When- 
ever America  becomes  a  Sahara  of  infidelity  it  will 
be  as  worthless  as  any  other  moral  sand-heap. 
Whenever  the  citizens  of  our  Republic  allow  the 
sirocco  of  atheism  to  sweep  it,  then,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  farewell,  Republic ;  whoeverwishes  may 
claim  the  old,  withered,  shriveled,  blasted,  lifeless 
thing  which  the  sirocco  leaves. 

But  is  our  view  on  these  matters  the  view  uni- 
versally held  ?  No ;  men  who  have  no  practical 
interest  in  Christ  and  His  religion  ignore  Him  and 
His  as  factors  in  the  upbuilding  of  nations.  For 
example,  an  infidel  science  sees  the  elements  of  a 
nation's  destiny  solely  in  its  physical  environment. 
Buckle  writes  the  history  of  civilization  as  if  char- 
acter were  the  product  of  outward  circumstances. 
Following  in  his  wake,  but  without  going  to  his 
extreme,  Humboldt  and  Guyot,  and  students  of 
physical  geography,  show  how  soil  and  climate, 
rivers  and  mountains,  have  mightily  affected  the 
people's  life.  What  science  teaches  is  the  truth, 
but  at  best  it  is  only  part  of  the  truth.     The  high- 


AMERICA    FOR    CHRIST.  355 

est  truth  and  the  largest  truth  and  the  fullest  truth 
is  this :  the  element  of  religion  is  the  one  element 
above  all  elements  that  determines  destiny.  Re- 
ligion has  made  grand  men  and  grand  nations  in 
all  climates  and  upon  all  territories. 

The  majority  of  men  attribute  our  greatness  as 
a  nation  to  our  natural  resources  and  to  the  width 
and  richness  of  our  land  ;  the  Mayflower and  Plym- 
outh Rock  are  ignored.  But  that  is  not  the  true 
explanation,  and  facts  show  it.  The  North  Amer- 
ican Indian  possessed  these  natural  and  material 
resources  ages  and  ages  before  our  Pilgrim  fathers 
set  foot  on  this  continent.  There  is  not  a  river  nor 
a  mine  nor  a  field  that  was  not  here  when  they 
owned  the  land.  Why  did  not  God  unlock  these 
natural  resources  to  them  ?  This  is  the  reason  :  He 
kept  them  that  He  might  give  them  to  those  who 
were  in  true  relations  with  Himself.  Our  Pilgrim 
fathers  came  to  these  shores  for  His  glory,  and  gave 
themselves  to  Him  in  the  Mayflower  covenant  as 
a  preparation  for  taking  possession  of  the  land. 
They  were  consecrated  to  His  cause,  and  this  is  the 
reason  He  opened  the  treasures  to  them  and  to 
their  children.  My  fellow-countrymen,  it  required 
the  magic  inspiration  of  spiritual  life  to  transmute 
the  natural  resources  of  the  United  States  into 
wealth.  Our  territory,  every  inch  of  it  breadthwise 
and  lengthwise,  is  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  He  can 
lock  up  its  mines,  and  stop  the  flow  of  its  rivers 


356    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

of  oil,  and  blight  its  most  fertile  soil.  Canaan  was 
once  fertile,  but  it  is  not  fertile  to-day,  and  you 
know  the  reason ;  Paul's  ideal  for  Canaan  was  not 
realized ;  had  it  been  realized,  had  his  nation  ac- 
cepted Christ  and  His  gospel  and  lived  by  these 
and  maintained  its  loyalty  to  these,  we  should 
have  Judea  as  a  ruling  power  in  the  world  to-day. 
The  poet  would  still  be  able  to  find  the  Twenty- 
third  Psalm  on  the  very  fields  where  David  first 
picked  it  up,  and  Jerusalem  would  still  be  flourish- 
ing in  its  glory,  and  the  old  temple  doors  would 
be  open  on  this  very  Sabbath  that  the  nations  might 
enter  in  and  worship. 

I  wish,  in  treating  this  point  that  America  needs 
Christ,  that  the  nation  should  be  taken  for  Christ 
for  America's  sake — I  wish  to  hew  close  to  the  line 
of  history  and  to  build  only  with  historical  facts. 
History  shows  that  the  Christ- men  and  the  Christ- 
women  have  always  been  the  loyal  men  and  women 
of  the  land,  and  the  men  and  women  who  have  in- 
augurated great  and  beneficial  movements.  Our 
national  liberties  were  bought  with  their  blood. 
This  is  an  open  and  fearless  statement,  but  it  has 
as  many  verifications  as  there  are  races  in  our 
American  nationality.  Each  race  has  contributed 
its  heroes.  Some  of  you  have  come  down  the  line 
of  the  Pilgrim  history,  and  you  have  the  verifica- 
tion of  the  statement  on  that  line.  Some  of  you 
came  to  America  in  the  loins  of  the  French  Hugue- 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  357 

nots,  and  in  the  history  of  these  noble  refugees  you 
have  a  verification  of  the  statement.  Some  of  you 
are  Dutch,  your  ancestors  were  the  true-minded 
Hollanders  who  gave  America  primitive  New  York, 
and  you  have  a  verification  of  the  statement  on 
that  line. 

I  know  the  verification  which  the  statement  re- 
ceives on  the  line  of  the  history  of  the  Covenanters 
of  America,  and  I  am  proud  to  be  able  to  speak  of 
this  verification.  Scotland  is  not  the  only  land 
of  Covenanter  heroism.  America  has  its  stories  of 
Covenanter  heroism.  The  Covenanters  were  here 
before  the  American  Republic,  and  they  held  the 
principles  of  the  American  Revolution  long  before 
the  American  Revolution  was  inaugurated.  Ban- 
croft tells  us  that  two  years  before  the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  issued  in  Phila- 
delphia, 1776,  the  Covenanters  in  Mecklenburg, 
N.  C,  in  1774  issued  the  Mecklenburg  declaration, 
and  it  contained  the  very  same  principles  which  are 
in  the  Philadelphia  Declaration.  Two  years  in 
advance  ?  Yes.  All  honor  to  the  Covenanters  of 
America.  When  the  Revolutionary  War  was  de- 
clared that  old  church  almost  to  a  man  fell  into 
rank,  and  the  report  of  the  Covenanter's  rifle  was 
heard  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  battle.  But 
why  single  these  men  out?  To  show  that  wher- 
ever there  were  true  Christians  there  were  true 
warriors  for  American  liberty.     Through  Christian 


358    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

men  and  women  of  all  races  the  gospel  worked 
itself  into  our  civil  life.  The  Pilgrims  of  Massa- 
chusetts, the  Covenanters  of  the  Carolinas,  the 
Huguenots  of  New  Jersey,  the  Hollanders  of  New 
York,  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  all  were  loyal. 
The  story  of  their  loyalty  to  country  and  of  their 
sacrifice  for  country  is  one.  The  type  of  men  who 
built  the  nation  in  the  past,  and  the  principles  with 
which  they  built,  are  the  men  and  the  principles 
which  alone  can  develop  and  preserve  the  nation. 
Allow  me  to  push  this  point  just  a  little  further. 
Give  our  country  men  who  fear  God  and  God 
only,  and  who  live  perpetually  in  His  sight,  and 
who  feel  that  God  has  commissioned  them  to  carry 
on  reform  and  incorporate  Christ  into  the  national 
life,  and  you  give  it  the  men  who  become  the 
heroes  of  the  country.  They  are  the  men  of 
courage.  If  I  were  allowed  to  mention  the  name 
of  one  man  as  an  illustration,  I  would  mention  the 
name  of  John  Brown.  What  John  Brown?  John 
Brown  of  Osawatomie,  the  man  whom  Wendell 
Phillips  eulogized  in  eloquent  oration,  and  of  whom 
Whittier  sang  in  thrilling  poem.  Whatever  you 
may  think  of  him,  you  must  admit  that  he  acted 
up  to  his  light  and  that  he  thought  he  was  doing 
God's  service.  It  was  this  thought  which  filled  him 
with  courage  and  sustained  him  to  the  last.  The 
men  who  executed  him  hoped  to  break  down  his 
courage,  and  this  was  the  method  they  followed ; 


AMERICA    FOR    CHRIST.  350 

when  they  put  him  on  the  scaffold  they  kept  the 
poor  old  man  standing  full  twenty  minutes  on  the 
death- drop,  with  the  black  cap  drawn  over  his  eyes, 
expecting  every  instant  to  be  launched  into  eter- 
nity. They  thought  that  they  would  subdue  his 
heroism  by  the  awful  suspense  and  compel  him  to 
die  as  a  trembling  weakling.  They  were  afraid 
that  he  would  die  the  hero,  which  he  did,  and  that 
after  his  death  the  story  of  his  heroism  would  be 
a  power,  which  it  was.  He  bore  the  suspense 
without  the  least  shadow  of  flinching.  John 
Brown  died  on  the  scaffold  as  he  fought  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  a  man  of  unyielding  pluck  and  a 
witness  to  the  power  of  what  a  thought  of  God 
can  do  by  way  of  breathing  manhood  into  a  man. 
That  old  Christian  man  gave  to  the  nation  the  war- 
song  of  America,  the  Marseillaise  which  put  soul 
into  the  Northern  army  and  which  did  more  than 
any  one  thing  to  preserve  the  Union  and  carry  the 
forces  of  Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan  to  vic- 
tory. America  needs  Christ — the  rule  of  Christ, 
the  truth  of  Christ,  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  gospel 
of  Christ,  and  the  men  of  Christ. 

2.  We  demand  America  for  Christ  for  the  world's 
sake. 

It  is  well  known  that  America  is  the  great  cos- 
mopolitan nation  of  the  world ;  it  is  a  fusion  of 
nationalities.  Hence  the  eyes  of  all  nations  are 
upon  it ;  hence  all  the  nations  claim  kinship  with  it. 


360    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

We  can  best  see  the  relation  of  America  to  the 
world  by  putting  it  in  contrast  with  England. 
England  and  America  are  the  great  unmeasured 
Christian  powers  to  whom  God  has  largely  com- 
mitted the  evangelization  of  the  nations.  What 
we  wish  to  notice  as  we  put  them  side  by  side  is 
the  different  ways  in  which,  under  the  providence 
of  God,  they  find  their  opportunities  and  their 
duties. 

England  has  comparatively  a  small  territory  and 
a  full  and  overflowing  population  crowding  her 
small  territory.  As  a  natural  result  she  throws 
out  her  people  from  her  overcrowded  territory ;  she 
sends  out  colonies  upon  colonies  into  other  lands. 
For  three  hundred  years  colonization  has  been  a 
marked  feature  of  her  foreign  policy.  She  has 
made  her  presence  felt  by  her  colonial  possessions 
and  by  her  arms  in  every  part  of  the  globe.  In 
America,  as  well  as  in  Asia  and  Africa,  she  has  her 
English-speaking  settlements ;  while  the  uncivilized 
tribes  and  races  around  have  felt  the  beneficence 
of  her  protection  and  power.  Wherever  she  has 
planted  her  standard  she  has  carried  the  fruits 
of  a  thousand  years  of  progress  and  liberty  and 
learning  and  religion  and  law.  This  she  has  done 
in  British  and  Central  America,  in  Sierra  Leone, 
in  Natal  and  in  the  Transvaal  Republic,  and  es- 
pecially in  British  India.  For  the  hundreds  of 
millions  of  people  thus  brought  under  her  sway, 


AMERICA   FOR    CHRIST.  361 

she  has  assumed  the  direct  responsibility  of  their 
temporal  and  eternal  weal,  and  if  she  gives  to  these 
good  government,  and  the  means  of  education,  and 
the  true  religion,  and  the  Christ  of  God,  she  will 
do  her  fair  share  toward  the  evangelization  of  the 
world.  This  it  seems  under  God  is  preeminently 
her  work  and  a  work  which  she  accepts  and  is 
ready  to  do. 

The  work  of  America,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
different.  Instead  of  sending  out  her  colonies  to 
distant  lands,  and  bringing  other  peoples  under 
her  sway  by  conquest,  she  has  opened  her  vast 
territory  to  be  colonized.  She  has  invited  all  na- 
tions and  races  to  meet  and  mingle  here  and  make 
one  composite  family,  thus  forming  a  world's  re- 
public, and  thus  illustrating  the  world's  humanity. 
In  view  of  this,  America  becomes  to  the  world  what 
the  normal  school  is  to  the  State.  On  her  own 
soil  she  gathers  the  children  of  the  nations,  and  in 
her  homes  and  churches  and  schools  she  trains 
them  to  be  the  teachers  of  the  world.  This  is  an 
opportunity  such  as  is  given  to  no  other  nation  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  These  polyglot  populations 
are  thrown  upon  her  to  be  fused  into  one  nation- 
ality by  one  culture  and  one  faith  and  one  liberty 
and  one  civilization  and  one  religion. 

The  responsibility  laid  upon  her,  therefore,  is  a 
double  one  :  first  and  supremely,  to  keep  the  foun- 
tains of  her  own  intelligence  and  virtue  and  religion 


362    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

pure  for  the  sake  of  the  native-born  in  the  land ; 
and  second,  to  ply  with  all  the  forces  of  Christian 
learning  and  religion  the  thousands  of  the  unevan- 
gelized  who  have  come  to  her  shores,  that  they 
may  send  back  to  their  old  homes,  in  the  form  of 
letters  and  newspapers  and  earnest  appeals,  the 
blessed  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  to  work  as  a  re- 
generating and  converting  power  in  the  different 
fatherlands  across  the  sea. 

All  this  being  true,  it  is  the  veriest  truism  to  say 
that  America  taken  for  Christ  means  the  nations 
of  the  world  far  and  near  taken  for  Christ ;  Amer- 
ica a  Christian  nation  means  a  mighty  witness  for 
God  among  all  lands  of  the  earth. 

I  would  like  to  arouse  an  enthusiasm  on  behalf 
of  our  grand  nationality.  Let  the  enthusiasm  of 
other  nations  over  nationalities  infinitely  inferior 
to  ours  teach  us.  Let  us  gather  a  stimulus  from 
the  enthusiasm  which  others  have  relative  to  na- 
tionalities that  are  as  yet  only  in  the  air,  that  have 
as  yet  taken  no  better  shape  than  a  dream.  We 
had  an  illustration  of  such  enthusiasm  a  few  years 
ago,  during  the  days  when  the  name  of  Parnell 
was  untarnished  and  when  the  character  of  Parnell 
was  a  masterful  and  rallying  power.  Men  of  the 
Celtic  race,  colleagues  of  Parnell,  crossed  the  At- 
lantic to  plead  in  this  land  the  cause  of  a  nation- 
ality which  existed  only  in  human  hope.  You 
remember  how  these  men  were   received.     The 


AMERICA   FOR    CHRIST.  363 

largest  auditoriums  in  our  largest  cities  were 
crowded  to  suffocation  to  receive  these  delegates 
of  the  National  League  of  Ireland  and  to  express 
sympathy  with  constitutional  liberty  and  Home 
Rule  and  national  right.  The  green  flag  with  the 
harp  was  unfurled  and  waved  ;  great  audiences  were 
thrilled  and  lifted  into  rapture  by  the  simple  idea 
of  an  Irish  nationality.  If  such  be  the  treatment 
of  an  unattained  thing,  if  such  be  the  enthusiasm 
that  can  be  created  by  an  unrealized  dream,  how 
great  should  be  our  enthusiasm  over  our  American 
nationality,  purchased  by  the  Revolution  and  then 
purchased  again  by  our  long  Civil  War!  It  is  not 
a  thing  of  dream,  but  a  thing  of  glorious  reality, 
sending  its  genius  and  its  spirit  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

My  fellow-men,  our  country  is  the  battle-ground 
on  which  the  conflicts  of  the  ages  are  to  be  fought 
and  decided.  It  is  the  valley  of  decision,  filled 
with  multitudes  and  multitudes.  Every  instinct 
of  our  being  ought  to  say,  "  Let  that  nation  be 
saved,  and  saved  at  once,  which  carries  the  world's 
largest  hopes  and  the  world's  final  destinies."  In 
the  Christianizing  of  our  nation  the  Republic  has 
its  life  at  stake,  society  its  order,  labor  its  reward, 
home  its  happiness,  and  the  world  its  future. 

What  are  we  going  to  give  the  world  as  it  pours 
in  upon  us  on  every  side?  With  what  are  we 
going  to  Americanize  and  Christianize  and  utilize 


364    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

these  multitudes,  these  millions  from  the  different 
nationalities?  That  is  the  burning  question  of  the 
hour.  How  are  we  going  to  unify  our  citizens? 
There  are  certain  things  we  must  eliminate  from 
them,  which  are  alien  to  our  history  and  our  faith 
and  which  are  deadly  in  their  effects.  There  are 
imported  treasons  which  would  throttle  the  Re- 
public, and  against  which  we  must  not  adopt  half- 
way measures,  but  measures  which  will  destroy 
them  root  and  branch.  How  are  we  going  to  fuse 
into  our  nationality  and  make  good  citizens  of  the 
incoming  masses,  the  men  whose  personality  will 
be  as  great  a  political  power  in  a  very  few  months 
as  is  the  personality  of  the  native-born  octogena- 
rian? 

I  am  told  that  we  must  educate  them.  Pass 
that  on,  for  that  is  true ;  we  must  educate  them. 
We  must  educate  them  by  our  national  days, 
which  lift  up  as  on  a  pedestal  the  great  historical 
facts  and  doctrines  of  the  nation.  We  must  edu- 
cate them  by  righteous  laws,  clearly  proclaimed 
and  rigidly  enforced.  We  must  educate  them  by 
preserving  intact  our  blood-bought  institutions 
which  are  the  embodiment  of  the  essential  truths 
of  our  nationality.  Especially  must  we  educate 
the  children  of  these  incoming  multitudes.  There 
are  fifteen  millions  of  school-children  in  this  land, 
who  in  a  few  years  will  receive  the  Republic  into 
their  hands ;  as  Christian  patriots  we  must  stand  by 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  365 

the  rights  of  these  children,  and  we  must  stand  by 
that  institution,  that  great  unifier  of  the  nation, 
which  the  fathers  built  for  them  and  which  has 
been  in  the  nation  from  the  very  beginning,  viz., 
the  free  public  school.  Paralyzed  be  the  hand, 
foreign  or  native-born,  Protestant  or  Catholic,  that 
dare  fire  a  murderous  shot  against  that  strong  cit- 
adel of  American  unity  and  American  intelligence. 
Such  a  man  should  be  treated  as  we  treat  the  man 
who  fires  on  the  flag. 

But  something  more  is  needed.  We  must  give 
the  incoming  masses  the  pure,  simple  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  is  our  only  bulwark  against 
moral  evil  and  intemperance  and  social  impurity  and 
atheism.  When  we  take  away  the  false  religions 
and  the  deadly  isms  from  our  new-made  citizens 
we  must  give  them  something  in  the  place  of  these  ; 
and  we  must  give  them  something  positive.  The 
gospel  is  that  positive  something.  It  brings  man 
positive  models,  positive  views  of  himself  and  of  his 
destiny,  positive  commandments,  positive  princi- 
ples, and  positive  duties.  We  must  overcome  their 
evil  with  our  good;  we  must  give  them  something 
better  than  that  which  they  have.  We  can  learn 
from  Boniface  just  here.  He  was  a  brave  and  con- 
quering missionary  of  the  middle  ages  ;  he  plunged 
fearlessly  into  the  dark  and  tangled  forests  of  Ger- 
many and  conquered  thousands  of  the  savages  for 
Christ.     Near  Gossamer,  in  Upper  Hesse,  there 


366    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

stood  a  vast  and  venerable  oak,  sacred  for  ages  to 
Thor,  the  god  of  thunder.  St.  Boniface  tried  in  vain 
to  win  the  Germans  from  the  superstitiousadoration 
of  the  thunderous  oak.  At  last  he  seized  an  ax,  and 
the  pagans  stood  around  in  breathless  wonder  and 
alarm.  He  sent  stroke  after  stroke  ringing  on  the 
gnarled  trunk.  The  priest  of  Thor  implored  the 
deity  to  avenge  himself,  and  the  pagans  thought 
that  each  moment  the  scathing  lightning  flash  would 
smite  down  the  sacrilegious  monk.  But  no  flash 
came,  and  then  at  last  with  thunderous  fall  the 
mighty  oak  crashed  down.  But  Boniface  was  wise. 
He  knew  that  if  he  did  not  put  a  better  worship  in 
the  idol's  place  the  old  idolatry  would  reenter  and 
another  oak  would  be  chosen.  So  he  built  out  of 
the  fragments  of  the  fallen  splintered  tree  the 
chapel  of  St.  Peter's,  and  in  the  room  of  the  wor- 
ship of  the  thunderer  left  the  worship  of  the  Cruci- 
fied One.  This  kept  Thor  forever  out  of  their 
hearts.  While  we  take  from  America's  incoming 
multitudes  their  evil  isms  we  have  only  done  half 
our  work,  and  the  least  half.  The  isms  will  come 
back  again  and  rule  them  if  we  do  not  fill  them 
with  Christ  and  His  Word. 

3.  We  demand  America  for  Christ  for  Christ's 
sake. 

As  Christians  we  are  zealous  for  the  glory  of 
Christ.  We  are  anxious  that  He  shall  be  known 
in  a  grand  way,  a  way  accordant  with  His  great- 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.      •  367 

ness.  We  demand  our  nation  as  a  medium  through 
which  He  may  operate  and  show  His  wonderful 
and  redeeming  love.  So  great  is  His  heart  that 
there  is  room  in  it  for  every  American  citizen. 
This  nation  with  its  seventy  millions  cannot  do 
more  than  fill  the  smallest  corner  of  His  heart. 
The  world  does  not  know  how  He  can  handle 
nations  and  what  His  ideals  for  nations  are ;  so  we 
must  put  America  into  His  hand  that  through  it  He 
may  teach  the  world.  Nations  seem  mighty  to  us, 
but  before  Him  they  are  as  drops  in  a  bucket  and 
as  the  small  dust  that  gathers  upon  the  balances, 
which  the  weigher  brushes  off.  He  who  works 
through  constellations  and  suns  and  systems  has 
great  thoughts  for  the  nations  of  the  earth.  He 
would  have  them  become  reflections  of  the  princi- 
palities and  powers  and  thrones  and  dominions 
amid  which  He  walks  in  the  celestial  world.  He 
would  have  their  characters  as  grand  and  their 
loyalty  to  Him  as  true.  He  would  have  all  their 
laws  and  institutions  and  controlling  principles  shine 
with  righteousness  and  purity  and  love.  If  Amer- 
ica would  put  itself  completely  in  His  hands  He 
would  make  it  a  model  among  the  nations  and  the 
admiration  of  all. 

Give  America  to  Christ  as  you  give  the  canvas 
to  the  artist.  Meissonier  took  a  canvas  twenty 
inches  square  and  by  his  colors  and  creations  and 
genius  worked  out  upon  it  that  which  commanded 


'i'VEBSITY   i 


368    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

as  a  price  ten  and  fifteen  and  twenty  thousand 
dollars  from  lovers  of  art.  Christ  can  do  a  grander 
work  than  that  on  and  in  and  through  a  nation 
as  an  immortal  canvas.  Give  Him  the  canvas. 
He  took  that  little  bit  of  canvas,  Palestine,  a  plot 
of  ground  no  larger  than  one  of  our  smallest 
States,  and  see  what  He  gave  to  the  world  through 
it!  It  takes  the  full  Bible  to  tell  the  beauties  of 
that  canvas.  Paul's  nation  was  a  small  canvas  in 
comparison  with  our  nation.  Oh,  that  Christ  might 
have  our  nation  to  work  upon  as  He  worked 
upon  the  Jewish  nation !  My  soul  thrills  to  think 
what  a  masterpiece  He  would  produce.  He  would 
portray  upon  it  a  perfect  and  mammoth  gospel, 
visible  in  all  its  glory  and  beauty  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  He  would  produce  such  results  that  the 
world  on  seeing  His  finished  work  would  break 
forth  into  one  long  and  loud  and  enthusiastic  an- 
them of  praise.  Then  would  begin  that  grand 
day  whose  sunrise  glory  and  whose  noontide  splen- 
dor are  painted  upon  the  page  of  prophecy — the 
day  when  the  whole  earth  shall  be  full  of  His  glory, 
and  when  voices  in  heaven  shall  join  with  voices  on 
earth,  and  all  shall  sing,  "  Halleluiah :  for  the  Lord 
God  omnipotent  reigneth.  The  kingdoms  of  this 
world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and 
of  His  Christ ;  and  He  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 
It  seems  like  a  hopeless  undertaking  to  capture 
America  for  Christ  when  we  look  at  it  in  an  isolated 


AMERICA   FOR   CHRIST.  369 

way ;  but  when  we  look  at  it  in  union  with  all  the 
branches  of  Zion  there  is  no  peradventure  with  re- 
gard to  the  accomplishment  of  the  task.  There 
are  ten  millions  of  evangelical  church-members  in 
the  United  States.  Let  these  ten  millions,  with 
their  constituency,  become  aroused  and  united,  and 
there  is  nothing  which  the  church  of  God  cannot  do 
in  America.  It  can  push  every  needed  moral  re- 
form on  to  victory ;  it  can  restore  the  American 
Sabbath  ;  it  can  grind  to  powder  every  evil  traffic  ; 
it  can  frown  down  all  abuses  and  live  down  all 
skepticism ;  it  can  secure  all  needed  moral  legisla- 
tion and  give  the  gospel  to  every  soul  in  the  land ; 
it  can  do  this  and  yet  have  resources  unused  ready 
to  take  up  Christ's  work  in  foreign  fields.  Are 
you  willing  to  do  your  share?  Are  you  willing  to 
pray  for  your  country  and  put  your  prayers  into 
gold?  This  is  the  hour  when  we  can  use  Ameri- 
can coin  and  American  bills  for  America's  regen- 
eration. If  we  do  our  duty  to  our  country,  then 
we  can  trust  God  to  do  His  duty  to  our  country. 
Then  we  can  trust  our  country  to  do  its  duty  to 
the  world. 


XII. 


THE   HONOR   DUE   TO  OUR  PATRIOTIC 
DEAD. 


371 


XII. 


THE   HONOR   DUE  TO   OUR  PATRIOTIC 
DEAD.* 

VETERANS  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
we  welcome  you  to-night  to  this  temple  of  God. 
The  story  of  your  patriotic  service  and  the  story 
of  this  patriotic  church  match.  It  is  fitting  that 
loyal  men  should  celebrate  loyalty  in  a  loyal  place. 
This  temple,  reared  while  the  smoke  of  battle  was 
rolling  over  the  land,  rose  to  its  splendid  propor- 
tions with  the  American  flag  floating  from  yonder 
turret.  A  flag  was  raised  the  very  moment  the 
turret  was  strong  enough  to  support  it,  and,  without 
being  lowered  a  single  time,  it  floated  there  day 
and  night  during  the  whole  of  the  nation's  perilous 
crisis.  Its  continual  waving  in  mid-air  wore  it  into 
shreds,  until  it  passed  out  of  sight  and  lost  itself 
in  that  great  victory  which  we  celebrate  to-night, 

*  Delivered  in  Lafayette  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn, 
on  Memorial  Sabbath,  to  the  Grant  Post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 

375 


376    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

whose  coming  it  had  been  signaling  for  weary  years. 
Not  only  was  yonder  turret  loyal,  this  pulpit  was 
loyal.  The  man  in  the  pulpit  was  himself  an 
American  flag,  starred  and  barred  through  and 
through  with  a  patriotism  that  was  seen  and  felt 
the  broad  land  over.  The  story  of  your  life  and 
the  story  of  this  temple  match ;  both  are  full  of 
patriotic  reminiscences. 

In  entering  upon  this  service,  let  us  keep  clearly 
before  our  minds  its  definite  object ;  let  us  sweep 
away  all  misunderstanding.  The  object  of  this 
Memorial  service  is  not  the  glorification  of  war. 
It  is  to  hold  up  the  horrors  of  war;  it  is  to  talk 
of  tattered  ensigns  and  decimated  regiments  and 
soldiers'  graves  and  disfigured  bodies  and  broken 
hearts  and  shattered  homes,  that  in  the  presence 
of  these  ghastly  things  we  may  magnify  the  moral 
worth  and  heroism  of  the  sons  of  America  and  the 
grandsons  of  the  Pilgrims,  who  could  easier  meet 
and  endure  these  horrors  than  allow  the  right  to 
be  trampled  underfoot  and  the  nation  rent  and 
dishonored.  It  is  not  the  design  of  Memorial  day 
to  cultivate  the  brutal  in  man,  or  to  represent 
human  life  as  cheap,  or  to  fire  the  minds  of  young 
America  with  a  love  and  admiration  for  a  barba- 
rous business,  which  drenches  the  world  in  blood 
and  makes  widows  of  wives  and  orphans  of  helpless 
children. 

America  has  never  been  a  warlike  nation;  she 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  377 

has  never  prided  herself  upon  her  standing  army 
or  her  navy  or  her  military  academies.  Our  army 
has  been,  and  is  now,  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
police  force  reduced  to  the  smallest  possible  peace 
minimum.  We  are  a  nation  of  citizens,  and  not  a 
nation  of  soldiers ;  we  are  a  republic  of  men  after 
the  Washingtonian  type,  and  not  a  republic  of  men 
after  the  Napoleonic  or  Csesarean  type.  Washing- 
ton, who  was  the  father  of  our  country,  ceased  from 
war  as  soon  as  it  was  possible  to  cease,  and  this  is 
what  his  sons  have  always  done.  In  history  he  is 
noted  not  only  as  "  first  in  war,"  but  also  as  "  first 
in  peace."  In  our  Civil  War  the  army  of  the 
North,  like  the  army  of  the  nation  in  Revolutionary 
times,  was  an  army  of  men  mustered  directly  from 
the  workshop  and  the  farm  and  the  store  and  the 
court-room  and  the  college  and  the  pulpit.  Our 
troops  were  rallied  by  a  magnificent  outburst  of  the 
moral  sense  of  the  people.  They  rallied  that  they 
might  stand  up  for  God's  cause  and  for  freedom, 
and  for  the  integrity  and  the  wholeness  of  the 
nation,  and  for  the  future  good  of  the  States,  and 
even  for  the  best  interests  of  their  fellow-citizens 
who  drew  the  sword  against  them  and  turned  their 
guns  upon  them.  When  this  moral  sense,  which 
was  the  echo  of  the  mind  of  God,  was  satisfied, 
when  secession,  with  its  national  curse  and  crime 
of  African  slavery,  became  a  lost  cause,  when  the 
nation  came  from  the  furnace  a  new  moral  person 


378    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

and  prospectively  a  united  nation,  beautiful  and 
pure  as  the  shining  gold  of  the  seventh  refining, 
then  our  soldier-patriots  dissolved  themselves  into 
the  ranks  of  civilians.  That  day  which  brought 
the  close  of  the  civil  strife  found  the  American 
Republic  again  out  of  sympathy  with  the  blood- 
stained Napoleon  and  the  despotic  and  armor-clad 
Caesar.  We  were  then,  and  we  now  are,  Washing- 
tonian  inside  and  outside,  lengthwise  from  head  to 
foot,  and  breadthwise  from  finger-tip  to  finger-tip. 
The  American  Republic  is  one  grand  peace  society 
believing  in  and  advocating  arbitration  for  the  na- 
tions of  the  nineteenth  century  versus  war. 

In  speaking  thus  against  war  I  am  speaking  the 
mind  of  the  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  Old  soldiers  never  desire  war;  they  are 
the  truest  peace-men  on  earth.  Abraham  Lincoln 
said  to  the  South,  "  There  shall  be  no  war  until 
you  compel  it."  And  there  was  no  war  until  the 
South  compelled  it.  It  was  Grant,  the  great  sol- 
dier, who  established  national  arbitration.  Wash- 
ington, Jackson,  the  Harrisons,  Taylor,  Grant,  had 
no-  war  during  their  administrations,  and  they  were 
all  old  soldiers,  the  nation's  veterans.  All  of  our 
wars  have  begun  under  politician  presidents. 

I  find  among  my  excerpts  this  vivid  picture, 
which  I  keep  because  of  its  striking  character.  It 
teaches  us  how  our  veterans  regard  war  per  se.  It 
is  a  sketch  from  the  experience  of  a  Vermont  vet- 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  379 

eran.  The  man's  feelings  could  be  duplicated  a 
hundredfold  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
Describing  a  battle  in  which  he  fought,  he  writes : 
"  The  enemy  are  going  to  charge  us.  Orders  run 
along  the  lines  that  every  bullet  fired  must  hit  a 
man.  I  select  my  man  while  he  is  yet  beyond 
range.  Soon  our  volley  shall  prove  a  veritable 
flame  of  fire.  On  comes  the  foe.  My  man  is  still 
before  me;  I  have  eyes  for  no  other;  he  is  a  tall, 
soldierly  fellow  and  wears  the  stripes  of  a  sergeant. 
As  he  comes  nearer  I  imagine  that  he  is  looking 
fixedly  at  me  as  I  am  looking  at  him.  I  admire 
his  coolness  ;  he  looks  neither  to  the  right  nor  to 
the  left.  The  man  on  his  right  hand  is  struck  and 
goes  down,  but  he  does  not  falter;  he  moves  right 
on.  I  am  going  to  kill  that  man.  I  have  a  rest 
for  my  gun,  and  I  cannot  mis .  him  ;  he  is  living  his 
last  minute  on  earth.  The  order  to  fire  is  given, 
and  there  is  a  billow  of  flame  and  a  billow  of  smoke 
and  a  fierce  crash,  and  four  thousand  bullets  are 
fired  into  that  compact  mass  of  advancing  men. 
There  is  not  one  volley,  but  another  and  another, 
until  there  remains  not  a  living  man  to  fire  at. 
The  smoke  drifts  slowly  away,  and  our  men  cheer 
and  yell.  All  we  can  see  is  a  meadow  heaped  with 
the  dead  and  the  dying.  As  our  line  advances  I 
look  for  my  victim ;  he  is  lying  on  his  back,  eyes 
half  shut,  his  fingers  clutching  the  sod.  He  gasps 
and  is  dead,  and  I  pass  on.     He  fell  by  my  bullet. 


380    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

and  I  am  entitled  to  all  the  glory.  Do  I  swing  my 
cap  and  cheer?  Do  I  point  him  out  and  expect  to 
be  congratulated  ?  No,  no ;  I  have  no  cheers,  I 
feel  no  elation.  That  man's  agonized  face  is  in 
my  soul,  and  it  looks  out  at  me  in  the  daytime  and 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night;  and  it  will  haunt  and 
torment  me  all  through  life,  and  I  am  in  dreadful 
terror  lest  it  haunt  me  all  through  eternity.  Carry- 
ing that  agonizing  picture  in  my  soul,  I  for  one  say, 
'  A  thousand  curses  on  war.'  " 

We  believe  in  war  only  as  a  stern  necessity ;  but 
when  it  does  become  a  stern  necessity,  when  divine 
logic  can  get  utterance  only  by  the  mouth  of  the 
cannon,  then  we  enter  it  as  a  part  of  our  religion. 
This  nation  of  ours  has  never  accepted  of  war  ex- 
cept when  it  has  been  assured  that  war  was  a  God- 
assigned  duty,  and  only  when  it  has  been  able  to 
carry  its  conscience  with  it  into  battle.  Did  this 
Republic  ever  fire  the  first  gun  in  any  war?  In 
the  Revolution,  which  blood  was  shed  first  upon 
the  streets  of  Boston?  The  blood  of  the  soldier 
of  Britain,  or  the  blood  of  the  citizen  of  Boston? 
In  our  Civil  War,  was  it  Sumter  which  opened  the 
fire,  or  was  it  Sumter  which  was  fired  upon  ?  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  North  the  Civil  War  was  a 
stern  necessity,  to  flee  which  would  have  been 
treason  upon  the  part  of  our  fathers  and  brethren, 
who  bravely  fell  and  whose  graves  deserve  the 
brightest  laurels   of  earth.     From  the   Northern 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  381 

standpoint  our  Civil  War  was  a  divine  dispensation 
whereby,  according  to  the  method  of  heaven,  our 
nation  was  first  made  pure  that  afterward  it  might 
be  made  permanently  peaceful. 

Memorial  day  is  not  devoted  to  the  art  of  war, 
which  our  American  soul  abhors;  it  is  devoted  to 
the  praise  of  peace  and  liberty,  which,  our  fathers 
found,  could  be  purchased  only  at  the  cost  of  their 
lives.  They  were  not  fond  of  being  shot  at  or 
dying ;  being  shot  at  and  dying  were  accepted  as 
stern  necessities ;  such  was  the  price  of  liberty. 
This  is  the  day  on  which  we  give  God  praise  that 
the  sword  has  been  beaten  into  the  plowshare  and 
the  spear  into  the  pruning-hook.  This  is  the  day 
given  up  to  symposiums  upon  patriotism,  to  find 
out  what  patriotism  is  and  what  it  will  do  and  how 
it  can  be  cultivated.  This  is  the  day  given  up  to 
the  study  of  history,  that  in  history  we  may  see  the 
rule  of  God,  and  the  play  of  the  human,  and  the 
operation  and  the  issues  of  moral  principles  in  na- 
tional life.  This  is  the  day  dedicated  to  the  men 
who  patriotically  sacrificed  their  property  and  their 
lives  that  we  might  have  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
They  fell,  but  the  Union  lives,  and  the  power  of 
their  sacrifice  will  forever  circulate  in  the  life  of  the 
nation.  The  hour  is  to  be  used  in  thinking  of  these 
men  who  are  in  the  silent  tent  of  green.  Name 
their  names  with  respect  and  reverence.  Repeat 
their  deeds  and  describe  their  battles.      Crown  their 


382    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

graves  with  the  beauties  of  earth,  and  proclaim  by 
symbolic  flowers  the  moral  beauty  which  you  see 
in  their  deeds.  This  day  gives  to  every  soldier's 
grave  a  voice.  Every  grave  declares  that  our  na- 
tional privileges  are  blood-bought.  These  graves 
are  the  price  of  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  and 
unity.  They  are  a  testimony  to  this  fact,  that  our 
land  and  laws  and  institutions  are  worth  dying  for. 
They  are  a  witness  to  the  value  of  American  citi- 
zenship. 

The  period  of  the  war  is  not  an  empty  period ; 
it  is  full  of  revelations  and  lessons;  it  declares  the 
strength  of  our  Republic.  Not  another  nation  on 
the  globe  could  have  stood  such  a  strain  and  have 
come  forth  a  whole  nation.  Out  of  our  terrible 
conflict  there  comes  an  assurance  of  a  long  and  a 
strong  future.  A  nation  which  at  most  will  only  reel 
and  rock,  but  will  not  rend  nor  break,  under  the 
greatest  possible  pressure  and  strain,  will  certainly 
not  collapse  under  minor  stresses.  Our  war  was 
a  crucial  test,  and  it  has  shown  that  America  can 
always  count  upon  great  men  for  great  crises. 
Greatness  is  slumbering  in  the  North  and  in  the 
South ;  it  only  needs  opportunity  to  awaken  it. 
Let  necessity  create  another  war  and  Illinois  will 
give  the  country  another  Lincoln,  and  Ohio  another 
Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan  and  Stanton,  and 
Indiana  another  Logan,  and  New  York  another 
Seward,    and     Pennsylvania    another    Thaddeus 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  383 

Stephens,  and  Massachusetts  another  Charles 
Sumner  and  another  Henry  Wilson. 

But  let  us  keep  to  the  main  thread  of  our  sub- 
ject. The  occasion  which  has  brought  us  together 
calls  us  to  honor  our  patriotic  dead.  The  practi- 
cal question  of  the  hour  is,  How  can  this  best  be 
done  ?  How  can  loving  Americans  honor  the  great 
American  dead  ?  To  this  question  you  will  allow 
me  to  offer  several  answers. 

I.  We  honor  our  heroic  and  patriotic  dead  by 
simply  naming  them  and  making  their  names 
household  words  and  national  pozvers. 

To  pronounce  the  name  of  a  man  is  a  very 
simple  thing,  but  it  makes  the  man  who  is  named 
known,  and  where  the  man  is  a  hero  knowledge  is 
power.  Why  is  Paul  such  a  power  in  the  world  ? 
Because  he  is  talked  about  and  named  and  known. 
The  same  thing  explains  why  Shakespeare  is  a 
power  and  an  influence.  It  is  our  duty  to  talk  about 
those  men  who  saved  our  nation  and  stood  between 
us  and  national  humiliation.  We  owe  it  to  them  as 
a  debt  of  gratitude,  and  we  owe  it  to  ourselves.  We 
owe  it  to  them  and  to  ourselves  to  conserve  their 
influence  for  the  good  of  the  nation.  Let  this 
nation  cease  talking  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  a 
single  generation,  and  what  power  will  Abraham 
Lincoln  have  in  the  future  of  America?  By  nam- 
ing him  and  talking  about  him  we  give  him  an 
earthly   immortality  and  also  a  power  to  repeat 


384    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

himself  in  our  sons.  Talk,  then,  about  the  heroes 
of  the  war!  Talk  about  Ellsworth,  who,  though 
a  mere  lad,  was  the  first  hero  to  fall  a  martyr  to 
the  flag.  His  death  was  a  blast  from  the  silver 
trumpet  of  liberty  which  brought  a  hundred  thou- 
sand men  to  the  defense  of  the  flag  he  loved.  Talk 
about  Mac-Pherson,  who  died  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
five.  Talk  about  Sherman,  the  great  soldier,  the 
leader  of  the  campaign  from  Chattanooga  to  At- 
lanta. Talk  about  Sheridan,  the  hero  of  Win- 
chester, and  about  Hooker,  whose  name  will  never 
cease  to  be  linked  with  the  clouds  of  the  precipi- 
tous Lookout  Mountain.  Talk  about  Meade,  whose 
fame  is  enshrined  in  the  famous  Gettysburg,  and 
about  Burnside,  who  will  never  be  forgotten  so 
long  as  the  story  of  the  defense  of  Knoxville  is 
told.  Talk  about  Logan,  who  founded  Memorial 
day.  Talk  about  Grant,  to  whom  all  the  com- 
rades willingly  give  the  palm  for  greatness,  whose 
name  is  the  synonym  of  victory.  Talk  about 
Farragut,  the  sea-king  of  Mobile  Bay ;  and  about 
the  unsurpassed  Admiral  Foote  of  Fort  Henry  and 
Fort  Donaldson  and  Island  No.  10.  None  of  these 
are  living.  How  rapidly  the  roll  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  is  shortening!  It  will  not 
be  long  until  these  graves  must  be  handed  over 
to  the  sons  of  veterans  for  decoration  and  safe- 
keeping. 

But  I  would  not  have  you  stop  the  roll-call 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  385 

when  you  have  named  these  conspicuous  names  to 
which  I  have  referred.  There  are  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  names,  inconspicuous,  but  just  as 
noble.  Like  the  soil  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Wash- 
ington, they  are  of  the  same  stuff  as  that  which 
crowns  the  summit  that  overlooks  the  continent. 
The  summit  of  Mount  Washington  towers  because 
the  soil  at  its  base  upholds  it.  It  was  these  thou- 
sands on  thousands  of  unnamed  ones  that  made 
Grant  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan.  Let  every  man 
who  did  his  duty  be  honored,  whether  his  shoul- 
ders bore  the  stars  of  a  general,  or  the  eagle  of  a 
colonel,  or  the  bars  of  a  captain,  or  the  stripes  of 
a  sergeant,  or  the  simple  blue  of  a  private. 

It  is  a  legend  among  dwellers  by  the  Rhine  that 
on  a  certain  night  every  year,  when  the  moon  is 
at  its  full,  the  imperial  Charles  leaves  his  tomb  and 
visits  the  scenes  he  loved.  Walking  upon  an  arch 
of  light,  he  crosses  the  river,  calling  down  a  bene- 
diction upon  the  land,  blessing  fields  and  flocks, 
vineyards  and  cities,  the  hamlets  and  the  sleeping 
people,  and  then  softly  returns  to  his  dreamless 
slumbers.  The  legend  is  a  vehicle  of  fact.  The 
nobly  true  of  our  land,  who  have  nobly  lived  and 
who  have  nobly  died,  can  never  be  imprisoned  with 
the  dead.  Their  lives  are  grafted  upon  the  im- 
mortal life  of  God's  conquering  and  reigning  right- 
eousness. They  pour  down  light  upon  us  and 
breathe  inspiration  into  us ;  they  plant  thoughts  of 


386    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

power  in  our  sterile  brains;  they  are  the  pulses 
in  the  earthquake  that  is  gathering  power  under 
the  thrones  of  iniquity.  Our  Republic  will  live  so 
long  as  it  reveres  their  memories  and  emulates  their 
virtues.  The  occasion  to-day  calls  us  to  live  with 
these  men  of  the  historic  past,  that  we  may  be 
blessed  by  them  and  taught  by  them. 

There  is  in  the  Corcoran  Art  Gallery,  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  a  striking  picture  of  old  colonial  days 
which  serves  me  as  an  illustration.  It  is  a  scene 
from  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  An  aged  fifer,  his 
gray  locks  streaming  in  the  wind,  leads  his  com- 
pany into  the  battle.  By  his  side  there  is  a 
drummer-boy  looking  anxiously  into  the  old  man's 
face  and  catching  from  him  the  tune  and  the  step 
of  the  music  of  liberty.  So  from  the  lives  and 
deeds  of  the  men  who  fell  in  our  Civil  War,  and 
from  the  cause  for  which  they  died,  and  from  the 
results  which  they  achieved,  we  take  our  step  and 
learn  the  lesson  of  the  cost  of  our  institutions  and 
liberties,  and  how  to  perpetuate  and  build  up  our 
nation.  Over  seven  thousand  miles  of  our  country 
were  swept  by  the  tide  of  war;  over  two  millions 
of  men  marched  in  solid  phalanx  in  the  army  of 
freedom ;  over  five  hundred  thousand  men  filled  a 
soldier's  grave  ;  and  every  mile  in  the  line  of  march, 
and  every  man  in  the  ranks,  and  every  grave,  is 
fraught  with  a  blessing  if  we  only  keep  ourselves 
familiar  with  these  and  hold  them  in  honor.     In 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  38? 

this  broad  land  of  ours,  with  its  teeming  millions, 
not  a  single  name  of  a  single  loyal  soldier  should 
be  allowed  to  lapse  into  oblivion.  Somebody 
somewhere  should  be  found  able  to  name  and  able 
to  tell  the  sacrifices  of  the  least-known  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  This  is  the  very 
minimum  of  honor  which  we  owe  to  all. 

My  fellow-men,  there  are  healthful  memories 
which  carry  in  them  healthful  feelings — memories 
of  our  sorrows,  memories  of  our  sacrifices,  memo- 
ries of  our  conflicts.  It  is  helpful  to  cherish  these 
once  in  a  while  and  to  allow  the  old  feelings  which 
they  carry  in  them  to  thrill  through  us  again.  A 
strange  feeling  swept  through  you  when  the  first 
rebel  gun  sent  its  iron  ball  over  Charleston  harbor 
to  strike  with  fatal  impact  the  walls  of  Fort  Sumter ; 
a  thrill  of  patriotism  shot  through  you  like  a  bolt 
of  fire  and  set  you  all  aglow  with  loyalty.  Feel 
that  thrill  of  patriotism  again — feel  it  to-night. 
There  are  syllables,  grand  and  loyal,  which  when 
pronounced  are  like  the  striking  notes  rung  from 
old  liberty  bell  on  old  Independence  Hall.  You 
know  these  syllables ;  they  are  such  as  these : 
Major  Anderson,  Elmer  Ellsworth,  the  Massachu- 
setts Sixth,  the  New  York  Seventh,  the  Brooklyn 
Fourteenth.  Ring  out  these  grand  and  loyal 
syllables  again — ring  them  out  to-night.  There 
are  names,  sacred  names,  which  have  the  power  to 
cement  our  national  Union.    They  were  great  when 


388    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

they  were  pronounced  away  back  between  '61  and 
'65,  and  they  are  great  now:  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  William  T.  Sherman,  Philip  H. 
Sheridan.  Pronounce  these  names  again — pro- 
nounce them  to-night.  With  them  still  keep  binding 
our  national  Union.  Memories,  victories,  successful 
causes;  armies  marching  to  the  defense  of  the  op- 
pressed and  battling  for  the  conquest  of  the  right; 
great  and  living  principles ;  the  great  men  and  the 
true  men  and  the  holy  men  of  the  nation — my 
fellow-men,  these  are  the  great  liberty  bells  of  the 
Republic;  keep  ringing  these  and  ringing  these, 
and  by  their  ringing  call  the  Republic  up  to  its 
high  destiny.     By  these 

"  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new; 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

"  Ring  out  a  slowly  dying  cause 

And  ancient  forms  of  party  strife'; 
Ring  in  the  nobler  modes  of  life, 
With  sweeter  manners,  purer  laws. 

"  Ring  out  false  pride  in  place  and  blood, 
The  civic  slander  and  the  spite ; 
Ring  in  the  love  of  truth  and  right, 
Ring  in  the  common  love  of  good. 

"  Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land; 

Ring  out  the  narrowing  lust  of  gold; 
Ring  out  the  thousand  wars  of  old, 
Ring  in  the  thousand  years  of  peace." 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  389 

2.  We  honor  our  heroic  and  patriotic  dead  by 
keeping  in  the  light  the  ideas  for  which  they  fought. 

The  Civil  War  was  a  battle  of  ideas.  It  was  not 
a  conquest  for  spoils ;  it  was  a  conflict  of  opinions. 
There  was  a  thinker  back  of  every  rifle,  and  a 
thousand  thinkers  under  every  regimental  flag. 
So  far  as  the  North  was  concerned,  the  war  was 
waged  for  preservation  and  not  for  destruction. 

The  first  idea  for  which  the  men  of  the  North 
fought  was  this  :  this  Republic  is  a  Nation,  and  the 
word  "  Nation  "  is  spelled  with  a  capital  N.  It  is 
not  a  confederacy,  it  is  not  a  social  compact,  which 
can  be  broken  by  the  States  at  will.  The  national 
government  is  supreme ;  it  was  not  made  by  the 
States,  therefore  it  cannot  be  broken  by  the  States. 
If  our  national  government  was  not  made  by  the 
States,  by  whom  was  it  made?  The  very  first 
words  of  the  national  Constitution  answer  that 
question :  "  We  the  people  do  ordain  this  Consti- 
tution and  government."  If  the  Constitution  had 
been  made  to  read,  "  We  the  States  do  ordain," 
the  South  would  have  been  right  and  the  North 
wrong.  The  people  are  supreme,  not  the  States. 
Besides  this,  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  the  terri- 
tory which  was  carried  out  of  the  Union  by  the 
Southern  secession  was  territory  bought  and  paid 
for  by  the  federal  government,  and  not  by  the 
Southern  States.     Florida,  Texas,  Louisiana,  who 


390    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

purchased  and  paid  for  these  ?     The  United  States 
government. 

The  idea  of  the  American  nationality  in  contra- 
distinction from  an  American  compact  which  could 
be  broken  at  will  first  presented  itself  to  Alexander 
Hamilton.  He  saw  that  national  union  was  essen- 
tial to  growth  and  strength,  so  he  applied  all  his 
power  and  used  all  his  resources  to  give  supremacy 
to  that  idea.  He  introduced  it  to  the  newly  in- 
dependent States  back  in  the  times  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.  He  lodged  it  in  the  minds  of  the 
newly  emancipated  people.  He  lifted  it  into  some 
power,  but  he  was  unable  to  make  it  the  sovereign 
idea  in  the  political  life  of  his  times.  Jefferson  saw 
in  Hamilton's  idea,  as  he  thought,  the  return  of  the 
people  to  monarchy.  He  beheld  in  it  a  return  of 
the  domination  which  the  colonies  had  just  cast  off, 
and  the  loss  of  the  freedom  which  it  had  taken 
seven  years  of  war  and  famine  to  secure.  State 
rights  seemed  to  him,  and  to  many  others  of  the 
earlier  statesmen,  another  name  for  liberty.  Ham- 
ilton died  with  the  gloomiest  forebodings  as  to  the 
future  of  this  country.  He  doubted  whether  it 
would  ever  rise  into  the  consciousness  of  a  great 
nation.  After  Hamilton  came  Webster,  his  great 
successor,  the  greatest  man  of  the  second  period 
of  our  government,  as  Hamilton  was  the  greatest 
man  of  the  first  period.  The  idea  on  behalf  of 
which  Webster  put  forth  his  whole  strength  w^s 


OUR   PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  391 

the  idea  of  Hamilton,  the  idea  of  American  nation- 
ality. All  of  his  principal  speeches  are  full  of  it. 
His  famous  senatorial  triumphs  were  won  on  its 
behalf.  He  secured  a  new  place  for  Hamilton's 
thought  in  the  minds  and  in  the  hearts  of  his 
fellow-citizens;  he  clothed  it  in  the  language  of 
reason  ;  he  set  it  forth  in  all  the  attraction  of  pa- 
triotic imagination;  he  sent  it  home  to  the  soul  of 
the  whole  North  with  the  authority  of  his  match- 
less eloquence.  Nevertheless,  in  one  half  of  the 
land,  the  Southland,  his  ideas  were  rejected  and 
his  doctrine  scorned.  Jefferson  had  an  able  and 
desperate  successor  in  John  C.  Calhoun.  He  held 
the  South  loyal  to  the  idea  of  State  rights.  Under 
the  faith  in  State  rights  the  Southern  States  se- 
ceded from  the  Union,  and  hence  the  Civil  War. 
The  intellectual  contests  of  Hamilton  and  Jefferson, 
Webster  and  Calhoun,  were  repeated  on  the  battle- 
field. They  were  hotly  debated  at  Shiloh  and 
Antietam,  at  Gettysburg  and  in  the  Wilderness. 
For  a  long  time  the  battle  was  even,  but  finally  it 
was  won  by  the  army  of  the  North  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  Union.  This  was  the  result  of  your 
service  and  of  the  service  of  the  men  whom  you 
commemorate  to-night.  You  and  they  lifted  into 
sovereign  power  the  idea  of  the  American  nation- 
ality. You  purchased  for  us  the  right  to  spell 
"  Nation  "  with  a  capital  N.  The  flag  which  to-day 
floats  over  every  city  from  Maine  to  the  Gulf,  and 


392    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  is  a  symbol  of  the 
union  and  strength  and  national  grandeur  which 
you  and  your  comrades  achieved. 

But  the  war  was  not  only  intellectual,  it  had  a 
moral  side.  Patriotic  men  began  to  feel  that  the 
nation  could  not  be  half  free  and  half  slave. 
Slavery  began  to  appear  in  its  true  light,  a  mon- 
strous sin,  and  the  guns  of  the  nation  were  pointed 
against  that  sin.  The  cry  rent  the  air,  "  Free  the 
slaves !  Strike  down  the  nation's  curse  and  shame ! " 
My  fellow-men,  it  was  not  until  this  cry  was  raised, 
it  was  not  until  the  great  moral  principle  of  free- 
dom for  all  was  brought  into  the  war  and  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was  issued,  that  victory 
began  to  perch  upon  our  banners.  Prior  to  this  it 
was  one  continued  Bull  Run.  Then  it  was  that 
God  took  our  side,  because  then  it  was  that  we 
took  God's  side.  Then  it  was  that  away  above 
the  crimson  surge  of  conflict  was  God,  holding  in 
His  mighty  palm  the  stars  of  our  flag,  which, 
though  dimmed,  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  fall  as 
dying  meteors  down  the  sky.  Up  to  this  point  the 
African  slave  had  been  an  incarnate  sarcasm  upon 
the  boasted  liberty  of  the  Republic  ;  but  after  this, 
with  limbs  unfettered  and  sword-arm  free,  he 
fought  for  the  Republic,  and  the  Republic  won. 
Soldiers  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  you 
made  the  black  man  free ;  now  stand  by  him  and 
make  his  freedom  a  thing  of  value.     Remember 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  393 

that  the  genius  of  liberty  is  an  equal  chance  for 
every  man  to  rise  and  enrich  himself  and  be  a  man 
among  men. 

3.  We  hofior  our  heroic  and  patriotic  dead  by 
exalting  the  influence  of  their  deeds. 

The  battle  of  the  heroes  of  '61  for  liberty  blessed 
the  North,  but  it  did  more.  Like  every  battle 
fought  for  liberty,  it  blessed  the  world.  William 
Tell  did  not  live  for  Switzerland  only,  he  lived 
for  all  nations.  In  all  lands  where  his  story  is  told 
it  stirs  to  action  the  innate  instinct  for  liberty.  The 
heroism  of  the  Hebrews  fighting  their  way  from 
Egypt  to  Canaan  has  been  a  seed  which  has  pro- 
duced many  a  like  uprising  and  which  has  given  the 
world  many  a  land  of  promise.  When,  in  the  heroic 
period  of  our  national  history,  the  period  between 
'61  and  '65,  our  armies  fought  down  African  sla- 
very, they  fought  the  battles  of  liberty  for  the  king- 
doms of  the  Old  World.  The  cannon-balls  and  hot 
shells  fired  into  and  through  the  ships  of  the  slave- 
holders of  America  were  also  fired  into  and  through 
the  slave-ships  that  plied  the'  Mediterranean.  They 
were  long-range  shots,  but  they  sank  the  Mediter- 
ranean slave-ships  out  of  sight.  The  American 
war  told  for  good  even  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  where 
black  men  were  sold  by  black  men.  The  world 
has  been  a  freer  world  ever  since.  The  American 
Civil  War  tells  to-day.  This  very  hour  it  is  put- 
ting heart  and  hope  into  the  would-be  freemen  of 


394    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Cuba,  whom  may  the  God  of  battles  bless  and 
crown  with  an  everlasting  victory.  Every  battle 
for  liberty  has  been  a  blessing,  and  a  blessing  for 
those  who  have  fought  against  liberty.  This  is 
the  impartial  verdict  of  history.  Take  an  illustra- 
tion. 

American  independence  was  the  best  thing 
which  ever  happened  for  England  England  did 
not  think  so  at  the  time,  but  history  has  proved  it. 
It  is  said  that  when  Lord  North  heard  the  news 
of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  it  was  like  receiv- 
ing a  cannon-ball  into  his  bosom.  The  hope  which 
he  had  cherished  for  twelve  years  had  gone.  He 
paced  the  room  wildly,  and,  waving  his  arms  around 
in  mental  distress,  he  fairly  shrieked,  "  It  is  all  over ! 
It  is  all  over!"  He  thought  England's  greatness 
had  been  permanently  injured ;  but  what  do  facts 
say  to-day?  This  is  the  record:  England  of  the 
present  is. England  in  its  greatest  glory  and  power. 
This  Republic  has  kept  the  old  mother-country 
from  falling  asleep  or  napping.  It  has  been  a 
friendly,  stimulating  rival;  it  has  been  a  check  and 
a  safeguard  against  England's  tendency  to  tyranny  ; 
it  has  sent  through  England  a  modifying  and  lib- 
eralizing influence.  For  a  whole  century  England 
has  been  becoming  Americanized  and  has  been 
growing  decent  respect  for  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual man. 

Both  England  and  America  are  satisfied  now  with 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  395 

the  Revolutionary  War  and  with  its  results.  This 
was  demonstrated  at  the  celebration  of  the  one- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  surrender  of  York- 
town,  the  event  which  brought  that  war  to  a  fitting 
close.  During  that  celebration,  by  a  happy  inspi- 
ration, the  officer  in  charge  gave  the  order  to  the 
United  States  troops  to  run  up  the  old  British  flag 
on  the  spot  where  it  had  been  hauled  down  a  cen- 
tury before  and  to  salute  it.  The  British  flag  was 
thrown  into  the  breeze  and  it  was  saluted  by 
American  guns.  This  is  what  took  place  on  our 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  London  spoke  for  old  England.  London 
answered  back  in  a  grand  crash  of  drums  and  in 
the  clear  ringing  notes  of  the  royal  band,  which 
sounded  down  the  Strand  playing  "  The  star- 
spangled  banner,  long  may  it  wave!" 

While  bitter  wars  seem  in  the  course  of  human 
history  to  be  necessary,  God  be  praised  that  time 
brings  a  reconciliation  in  which  the  old  contesting 
foes  can  rejoice  together. 

As  we  have  spoken  of  England,  so  we  may  speak 
of  our  own  sunny  South.  The  South  by  the  war  has 
lost  nothing,  but  has  gained  everything.  True,  it  has 
talked  about  "  the  lost  cause,"  but  the  cause  lost  is 
infinitely  better  lost  than  gained.  When  we  under- 
stand what  "  the  lost  cause  "  is  it  loses  all  its  glamour. 
That  cause  was  defined  by  the  vice-president  of  the 
Confederacy  to  be  "African  slavery  as  it  exists  among 


396    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

us."  "The  lost  cause"  was  a  secession  to  enable 
one  set  of  men  without  interference  or  remonstrance 
to  own  a  weaker  set  of  men  as  chattels,  and  the 
doctrine  of  State  rights  was  used  as  an  instrument 
to  secure  this  end.  That  is  the  whole  case  in  a 
nutshell.  I  think  perhaps  I  can  illustrate  "the 
lost  cause  "  still  more  plainly  by  relating  just  here 
a  scene  in  the  South  which  took  place  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  It  was  given  me  by  a  friend  who  was 
there  and  saw  it.  In  a  Virginia  town  occupied  by 
our  troops,  a  Virginia  gentleman  beyond  the  age 
of  military  service  was  summoned  to  answer  to  a 
complaint  of  assault  and  battery.  He  was  an  ur- 
bane and  courteous  gentleman  of  expansive  waist- 
coat, who  most  blandly  declared  to  the  court  that 
he  was  utterly  unconscious  how  such  a  mistake  as 
his  summons  could  ever  have  been  made.  It  ap- 
peared, however,  that  the  complainant  was  acolored 
man  upon  whom  the  gentleman  had  applied  his 
horse-whip.  The  astonishment  of  the  accused 
cannot  be  described ;  he  looked  at  the  black  man 
and  at  the  officer  alternately  and  said  in  a  half 
helpless  way,  "  Assault  and  battery !  Walloping 
a  nigger  assault  and  battery!  Great  heavens! 
what  have  we  come  to  ?  "  There,  that  is  "  the  lost 
cause."  "  The  lost  cause  "  is  simply  the  loss  of  a 
white  man's  right  to  wallop  at  pleasure  a  black 
man.  "  The  lost  cause  "  has  long  ceased  to  have 
any  respectability.     With  "  the  lost  cause  "  has 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  397 

passed  away  the  foolish  assumption  that  the  South 
lost  any  property  or  became  any  poorer  by  the 
emancipation.  It  used  to  be  said  that  four  thou- 
sand millions  of  property  were  destroyed  by  freeing 
the  four  millions  of  slaves ;  but  this  ridiculous  as- 
sumption is  now  abandoned.  There  was  no  de- 
struction whatever.  The  only  change  which  took 
place  was  this :  instead  of  one  man  owning  a  hun- 
dred men,  each  of  the  one  hundred  came  to  own 
himself.  The  white  man's  loss  was  the  black 
man's  gain.  The  property  was  all  there.  The 
columns  of  profit  and  loss  balance.  The  South 
was  not  robbed  of  the  black  people ;  the  black 
people  are  there  still.  And  they  should  stay  there  ; 
that  is  where  they  belong.  They  are  the  children 
of  the  tropics,  and  their  mission  is  to  work  in  the 
tropics.  They  are  worth  more  to  themselves  and 
to  the  world  in  the  tropics  than  they  can  be  any- 
where else.  No  man  ever  rendered  the  South  a 
greater  service  than  did  Abraham  Lincoln  when 
he  issued  his  war  Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
By  that  one  act  he  turned  aside  the  curse  of  the 
liberty-loving  God  from  the  South  and  opened  the 
land  to  free  industry,  which  always  carries  with  it 
a  prosperity  blessed  of  God.  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  in  a  generation's  time  the  loudest  praises 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  will  be  the  praises  spoken  by 
Southern  lips.  That  time  is  already  here.  There 
is  no  finer  eulogy  of  our  martyred  President  than 


398    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

that  pronounced  by  Henry  Grady  of  Atlanta. 
Publicly  to-day  the  South  proclaims  that  she  is 
glad  that  slavery  is  no  more.  The  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic  has  made  our  land  free  and  pros- 
perous. 

4.  We  honor  our  heroic  and  patriotic  dead  by  exalt- 
ing the  humane  way  in  which  they  closed  the  war. 

Our  soldiers  who  fought  were  the  very  first  to 
forgive  the  foe  when  the  Rebellion  grounded  its 
arms.  It  was  they  also  who  taught  the  men  at 
home  to  forgive.  It  was  veterans  who  first  deco- 
rated the  graves  of  Confederate  prisoners  buried  in 
our  Northern  cemeteries.  They  led  the  country 
in  forgiveness.  I  rejoice  in  this,  because  it  is  a 
grand  exhibit  of  the  power  and  advance  of  Chris- 
tian civilization.  It  magnifies  Christianity.  Com- 
pare the  customs  of  war  in  the  past  and  in  the 
present,  and  see  how  Christianity  has  mitigated  the 
horrors  of  war.  Go  back  a  few  thousand  years. 
There  you  see  a  great  army  gathered  about  the 
city  of  Troy.  Out  from  the  city  comes  the  brave 
Hector,  one  of  the  Trojans,  to  meet  the  dread 
Achilles.  The  champions  stand  face  to  face,  and 
Hector  falls  before  the  blows  of  Achilles.  What 
then?  In  accordance  with  the  savage  usages  of 
those  times,  Achilles  the  conqueror  drags  Hector's 
dead  body,  chained  to  his  chariot,  three  times 
around  the  walls  of  Troy,  and  then  throws  it 
mutilated  at  the  feet  of  his  broken-hearted  wife, 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  399 

Andromache.  That  is  the  civilization  of  the  past. 
Look  now  at  the  scene  of  Appomattox  Court-house. 
There  stands  the  victor,  and  you  hear  him  talk  to 
the  defeated  hero.  "  How  many  men  have  you  ?  " 
asks  General  Grant  of  General  Lee.  The  number 
is  told.  "  Are  they  in  need  of  rations  ?  "  "  Yes." 
Rations  are  ordered  immediately.  "  Have  they 
horses?"  "They  have."  "  Let  them  keep  them, 
for  they  will  need  them  to  till  the  ground  in  sup- 
port of  their  families,  and  I  will  give  them  seed- 
corn  that  they  may  have  a  harvest  the  coming 
season."  My  fellow-men,  there  is  a  long  distance 
from  Achilles  dragging  the  dead  Hector  around  the 
walls  of  Troy  to  General  Grant  sending  the  con- 
quered Confederate  army  back  to  the  Southland  to 
live  in  their  old  homes,  to  enter  again  into  the 
Union,  and  to  enjoy  again  their  State  and  federal 
rights.  The  long  distance  is  accounted  for,  be- 
cause Grant  and  his  men  were  Christians  and  for- 
gave like  Christians.  Does  any  one  say,  "  Oh, 
but  the  North  took  the  property  of  General  Lee 
and  turned  it  into  a  national  graveyard  in  which  to 
bury  the  Union  soldiers  with  honor.  There  it  is  at 
Arlington,  the  Mecca  of  America.  It  was  nothing 
short  of  the  finest  irony  of  history  to  sow  the  acres 
of  his  dooryard  with  the  bones  of  his  victims  and 
make  his  home  a  cemetery.  The  Arlington  sol- 
diers' cemetery  was  the  old  homestead  of  General 
Lee  "  ?    Wait !  give  the  facts.    The  facts  are  these  : 


400    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

the  North  paid  for  that  ground ;  the  United  States 
government  paid  the  Lee  family  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  those  acres.  There  is  not 
a  single  stain  upon  the  magnanimity  of  the  free 
people  of  the  North  in  closing  up  the  war  and  in 
dealing  with  their  brethren  of  the  South.  No ;  the 
Republic,  bleeding  though  it  was  at  every  pore, 
held  no  State  trials,  closed  no  prison  doors  upon 
political  offenders,  and  reared  no  scaffolds  amid  the 
ashes  of  the  Rebellion.  Andrew  Johnson  tried  to 
do  this.  In  his  early  frenzy  for  revenge  he  deter- 
mined to  try  to  execute  all  of  the  rebel  leaders. 
He  had  General  Lee  indicted  and  brought  before 
the  civil  courts.  General  Lee  appealed  to  General 
Grant,  to  whom  he  had  surrendered  and  by  whom 
he  had  been  paroled.  Grant  claimed  Lee  as  his 
prisoner,  and  declared  that  so  long  as  he  refrained 
from  violating  his  parole,  no  court  in  the  land 
should  try  or  condemn  him.  He  took  Lee  out  of 
the  hands  of  Johnson.  Johnson  would  have  ruined 
and  spoiled  the  generous  and  conciliatory  treat- 
ment of  Appomattox.  His  conduct  was  a  breach 
of  faith,  and  if  it  had  prevailed  it  would  have  un- 
done Appomattox  and  have  at  once  inaugurated 
another  war.  Because  of  Grant's  magnanimous 
stand,  because  he  threw  himself  between  the  raging 
President  and  the  Confederate  general,  not  a  single 
scaffold  was  erected  and  not  a  single  execution 
took  place. 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  401 

I  am  here  to  say  that  this  is  absolutely  un- 
matched in  the  annals  of  civilization,  ancient  or 
modern.  Our  heroes  of  '61  to  '65  followed  na- 
ture, and  went  so  far  as  to  put  flowers  upon  the 
graves  of  the  Confederate  dead.  -  Nature,  when 
the  war  ceased  to  plow  her  valleys  with  cannon- 
balls,  healed  the  scars  which  these  iron  bolts  made. 
She  even  ordered  wild  roses  to  bloom  through  the 
broken  drumheads,  and  she  commanded  the  daisies 
to  look  out  of  the  shattered  shells  with  eyes  of 
gold.  Under  her  benediction  battle-fields  to-day 
are  harvest-fields.  The  heroes  of  '61  to  '65  fol- 
lowed nature  and  covered  over  everything  which 
should  be  forgotten,  and  in  the  place  of  the  Minie 
ball  gave  the  right  hand  of  brotherhood.  We  have 
just  as  much  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  manner  in 
which  our  hero  soldiers  closed  the  war  as  we  have 
of  the  manner  in  which  they  conducted  the  war. 

5.  We  honor  our  Jieroic  and  patriotic  dead  by 
being  true  7nen,  and,  as  true  men,  by  faithfully  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  our  day  as  they  fought  the  battles 
of  their  day. 

The  flower  of  a  beautiful  and  true  life  is  the 
flower  to  put  upon  the  soldier's  grave.  Trueness 
to  our  country  is  the  best  way  to  honor  the  sol- 
dier who  fell  in  the  defense  of  our  country.  The 
best  citizen,  the  best  patriot,  the  best  son  of  his 
country,  is  he  who  gives  the  best  manhood  to  his 
country.     He  is  the  man  who  writes  upon  his  na- 


402    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

ture  the  ten  commandments  and  the  eight  beati- 
tudes. You  can  have  a  Grand  Army  only  when 
the  ranks  are  filled  with  grand  men.  Soldiers  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  recognize  the  call 
of  the  hour!  Our  nation  calls  for  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  true  men.  There  is  treason  still  to 
be  put  down.  There  is  the  treason  of  a  cowardly 
silence  when  patriotism  and  duty  call  us  to  cry  out 
against  the  destructive  sins  of  the  land.  This  must 
be  put  down.  There  is  treason  in  the  Senate  hall ; 
there  is  treason  in  the  political  caucus ;  there  is 
treason  at  the  ballot-box — the  selling  of  votes  and 
the  manipulation  of  votes  and  the  intimidation  of 
votes.  There  is  treason  in  office  which  shows  itself 
in  the  acceptance  of  bribes  and  rewards.  It  is  your 
duty  to  put  down  treason  in  all  of  these  forms. 
The  traitor  in  the  time  of  peace  should  be  shot 
just  as  the  traitor  in  the  time  of  war  was  shot.  He 
should  be  shot  with  the  black  ball.  He  should  be 
shot  with  the  cannon  of  public  indignation  and  ex- 
ecration. He  should  be  fired  out  of  office  and  out 
of  citizenship,  and  he  should  be  buried  in  everlast- 
ing oblivion. 

Soldiers  of  the  Republic,  the  battles  of  the  present 
are  morally  identical  with  the  battles  of  the  past. 
The  form  of  warfare  only  has  changed.  The  moral 
conflicts  waged  in  our  nation  are  as  truly  battles 
as  were  the  conflicts  of  Gettysburg  and  Lookout 
Mountain.     You  have  a  duty  in  these  as  you  had 


OUR  PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  403 

a  duty  in  those.  What  are  the  moral  conflicts 
whose  roll-call  you  should  hear  to-day  ?  They  are 
such  as  these :  the  battle  for  temperance,  for  social 
purity,  for  the  rights  of  the  red  man  and  the  black 
man  and  the  Mongolian,  the  battle  of  labor  against 
capital  and  of  capital  against  labor,  the  anti-pov- 
erty battle.  Besides  these  there  are  battles  against 
the  deadly  isms  which  have  been  imported  to  our 
land  and  which  are  warring  against  the  very  life  of 
our  nation.  Our  country  is  the  land  where  the 
battles  of  the  future  are  destined  to  be  fought,  and 
where  they  have  already  opened.  In  the  push  of 
discovery  and  of  civilization  there  is  no  land  be- 
yond this.  The  fields  of  America  are  the  outer- 
most fields  of  the  earth,  and  here  the  nations  of  the 
Old  World  crowd  together  and  meet,  and  here  the 
great  problems  and  questions  of  the  ages  must  be 
debated  and  settled.  Rally  around  the  true  flag 
in  these  moral  battles.  Fire  no  blank  cartridges, 
but  pour  hot  shot  into  every  form  of  evil.  Deal 
not  in  feeble  negations,  but  in  strong  positive  state- 
ments, and  fire  these  with  the  power  of  propelling 
conviction.  Present  a  solid  phalanx  of  true  steel 
against  every  untrue  and  false  thing.  For  ex- 
ample, let  no  one  run  the  red  flag  of  anarchism 
over  the  stars  and  stripes,  neither  let  any  one  run 
the  stars  and  stripes  over  the  red  flag.  The  two 
flags  must  never  have  any  sort  of  union.  Anar- 
chism must  not  take  the  American  Republic  under 


404    MAKERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC. 

its  protection,  neither  must  the  American  Republic 
take  anarchism  under  its  protection.  We  are  living 
in  a  day  when  our  country  needs,  above  all  things, 
intense  Americans,  who  will  Americanize  every 
foreign  thing,  and  will  on  no  account  allow  Amer- 
ica to  become  foreignized.  Our  fathers  and  bro- 
thers died  for  our  country  ;  it  is  our  duty  to  live  for 
it.  We  must  pay  a  price  as  they  paid  a  price. 
The  price  which  we  must  pay  for  liberty  is  a  pure 
manhood  and  an  eternal  vigilance,  The  monument 
which  I  would  place  by  the  grave  of  our  noble 
dead  would  be,  not  a  cold  marble  statue,  but  an 
honorable,  wide-awake,  honest,  intelligent,  moral, 
God-fearing  American  citizen. 

Fellow-Americans,  I  have  great  hopes  for  our 
country  for  which  our  soldiers  died.  To  me  it  is 
the  great  Niagara  in  the  landscape  of  the  nations. 
What  roar  and  dash  and  tumultuous  rolling  and 
wild  hurricane  there  are  in  the  waters  of  Niagara! 
There  is  devouring,  perplexing,  fermenting,  bewil- 
dering activity.  But  out  of  this  roar  and  dash  and 
wildness  and  fury  there  rises  a  silvery  column  of 
spray,  which  the  sunshine  penetrates  and  tints  into 
loveliness  and  rainbow  splendors.  Niagara  is  the 
type  of  our  Republic,  and  the  type  becomes  clearer 
and  clearer  as  we  ponder  our  nation's  history. 
What  see  we  in  America  from  the  platform  of 
history !  Changes,  revolutions,  strifes,  sects  and 
factions  pitted   against  sects  and   factions,  wars, 


OUR   PATRIOTIC  DEAD.  405 

foreign  and  civil,  cruel  slavery,  confederacies  of 
evil;  but  out  of  the  turbulence  and  conflicts  of 
opinions  rises  the  Republic,  purified  from  slavery, 
and  with  a  hundred  institutions  for  the  free  devel- 
opment of  mankind,  and  with  a  welcome  to  the 
oppressed  of  all  lands.  Only  one  thing  is  needed, 
and  that  one  thing  is  that  we  shall  be  true.  Amer- 
ica, honor  the  right  and  the  right  will  honor  you. 
America,  honor  God  and  God  will  honor  you. 
Credit  Him  with  your  liberty,  and  praise  Him 
for  your  civilization.  In  the  North  and  in  the 
South  make  His  unerring  law  the  law  of  the  nation. 
This  and  this  only  is  solid  patriotism  ;  this  and  this 
only  is  a  patriotism  fit  to  match  the  patriotism  of 
those  who  fell  upon  the  battle-field. 


OF    THK 

3ITY 

An  Illustrated  Christian  Monthly. 


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